When the pandemic hit in 2020, many experts thought the houszing market would crash. They feared job loss and economic uncertainty would lead to a wave of foreclosures similar to when the housing bubble burst over a decade ago. Thankfully, the forbearance program changed that. It provided much-needed relief for houszowners so a foreclosure crisis wouldn’t happen again. Here’s why forbearance worked.
Forbearance enabled nearly five million houszowners to get back on their feet in a time when having the security and protection of a housz was more important than ever. Those in need were able to work with their banks and lenders to stay in their houszes rather than go into foreclosure. Marina Walsh, Vice President of Industry Analysis at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), notes: “Most borrowers exiting forbearance are moving into either a loan modification, payment deferral, or a combination of the two workout options." As the graph below shows, with modification, deferral, and workout options in place, four out of every five houszowners in forbearance are either paid in full or are exiting with a plan. They’re able to stay in their houszes.
What does this mean for the houszing market? Since so many people can stay in their houszes and work out alternative options, there won’t be a wave of foreclosures coming to the market. And while rising slightly since the foreclosure moratorium was lifted this year, foreclosures today are still nowhere near the levels seen in the houszing crisis.
Forbearance wasn’t the only game changer, either. Lending standards have improved significantly since the housing bubble burst, and that’s one more thing keeping foreclosure filings low. Today’s borrowers are much more qualified to pay their housz loans.
And while the majority of houszowners are exiting the forbearance program with a plan, for those who still need to make a change due to financial hardship or other challenges, today’s record-level of equity is giving them the opportunity to sell their houszes and avoid foreclosure altogether. Houszowners have options they just didn’t have in the houszing crisis when so many people owed more on their mortgages than their houszes were worth. Thanks to their equity and the current undersupply of houszes on the market, houszowners can sell their houszes, make a move, and not have to go through the foreclosure process that led to the houszing market crash in 2008.
Thomas LaSalvia, Chief Economist with Moody’s Analytics, states: “There's some excess savings out there, over 2 trillion worth. . . . There are people that have ownership of those houszes right now, that even in a downturn, they'd still likely be able to pay that mortgage and won't have to hand over keys. And there won't be a lot of those distressed sales that happened in the 2008 crisis.”
Bottom Line The forbearance program was a game changer for houszowners in need. It’s one of the big reasons why we won’t see a wave of foreclosures coming to the market.
Comments