This decline was likely driven, in part, by the 200,000 forbearance plan expirations that were scheduled for the end of November. Active forbearance plans fell by 39,000 for the week, with GSE forbearances falling by 25,000 and FHA/VA forbearances falling by 14,000.

The number of active forbearances among loans held in banks’ portfolios or private label securities held steady this week.

As of the start of December, 2.76 million homeowners remained in active forbearance plans, representing 5.2% of all active mortgages.

Overall, forbearances are now down 91,000 (-3.2%) month-over-month. While November saw comparatively limited forbearance expiration activity, more than a million plans are scheduled to expire in December, representing nearly 40% of all active forbearance cases. Meanwhile, 81% of forbearances that are still active have had their terms extended at some point since March.