Distressed

The Federal Housing Finance Agency addressed the period between the end of the federal foreclosure moratorium and the beginning of new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directives as home loan companies expressed relief that requested exemptions from some foreclosure waiting periods were included.

Fewer borrowers are suspending payments for pandemic hardships but some who got back on track are having trouble again, and deadlines could spur a final round of new requests.

The White House extended the foreclosure moratorium for federally-backed home loans a final month, and government agencies plan to roll out additional measures in July.

The numbers, which include payments suspended for pandemic-related hardships, could be a consideration in the possible further extension of moratoria federal regulators are close to making a call on.

Growing CRE mortgage volumes raised the bar for the coming year despite lingering concerns, according to the CRE Finance Council.

Evaluations for payment reduction still represent a relatively small share of home retention actions but their uptick could add incrementally to servicers’ workloads.

The strength of the housing market helped to increase forbearance exits while minimizing new requests, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

So far companies plan on using roughly the same number of employees as they shift from handling payment suspensions to assessing borrowers who have seen long-term declines in their incomes.

Experts expect only a small uptick in distressed mortgages, either through default or inability to refinance, which will create some opportunity for debt buyers

About 20% of the pandemic-related delinquent borrowers are up for review by the end of June, which could lead to vast improvement or deeper financial strife, according to Black Knight.