WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 20, 2020) — The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance jumped from 3.74% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 5.95% as of April 12, 2020.

Mortgages backed by Ginnie Mae showed the largest growth (2.37%) from the prior week and the largest overall share in forbearance by investor type (8.26%). Depository servicers – at 6.57% – surpassed independent mortgage bank (IMB) servicers (5.69%) for the highest share of loans in forbearance.

“With over 22 million Americans filing for unemployment over the past month, homeowners are contacting their mortgage servicers seeking relief, leading to a sharp increase in the share of loans in forbearance across all loan types,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Mortgage servicers continue to receive a very high level of forbearance requests, but volumes were down somewhat compared to the prior week. Given that lockdowns and associated job losses will continue in the coming weeks, forbearance inquiries will likely rise again as we approach May payment due dates. Borrowers facing COVID-19-related hardships should contact their servicer to review all of their options.”

Added Fratantoni, “Mortgage servicers are performing an essential function of the housing finance system by continuing to advance funds to investors at a time when roughly 3 million homeowners are now in forbearance. To ensure market stability during these challenging times for consumers and the entire industry, servicers need access to interim financing so that they can continue to play this critical role.”

Key findings of MBA's Forbearance and Call Volume Survey – April 6-12, 2020

• Total loans in forbearance grew relative to the prior week from 3.74% to 5.95%. In comparison, only 0.25% of all loans were in forbearance for the week of March 2.
  • By investor type, Ginnie Mae loans grew the most relative to the prior week: from 5.89% to 8.26%.
  • The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance increased relative to the prior week: from 2.44% to 4.64%.
• Forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) dropped relative to the prior week: from 2.43% to 1.79%.
• Weekly servicer call center volume:
  • As a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#), calls dropped from 14.4% to 8.8%.
  • Hold times decreased from 10.3 minutes to 4.9 minutes.
  • Abandonment rates declined from 17.0% to 9.7%.
  • Average call length rose from 7.5 minutes to 7.6 minutes.
• Loans in forbearance as a share of servicing portfolio volume (#) as of April 12, 2020:
  • Total: 5.95% (previous week: 3.74%)
  • IMBs: 5.69% (previous week: 4.17%)
  • Banks: 6.57% (previous week: 3.63%)

MBA’s latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey covers the period from April 6 through April 12, 2020, and represents almost 77% of the first-mortgage servicing market (38.3 million loans).

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 17, 2020) — Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks made an average profit of $1,470 on each loan they originated in 2019, up from $367 per loan in 2018, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported today in its Annual Mortgage Bankers Performance Report.

“2019 was a much improved mortgage market compared to the very challenging environment for the industry in 2018,” said Marina Walsh, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis. “After an unfavorable first quarter, independent mortgage companies saw significant improvement in profitability starting in the second quarter, driven by a jump in refinancing activity from the steady decline in mortgage rates. As volume escalated, production costs dropped from 2018 levels by $743 per loan.”

Added Walsh, “For companies holding mortgage servicing rights (MSR), one downside was that prepayment activity triggered heavy MSR amortization and write-downs. These write-downs were particularly painful for servicers that did not hedge their MSRs.”

According to Walsh, profits on the production side of the business generally compensated for servicing losses. Including both production and servicing operations, 92 percent of the firms posted pre-tax net financial profits in 2019, compared to only 69 percent of firms in 2018.

“For many IMBs, 2019 is now a distant memory because of the mortgage market disruption caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Walsh. “The many pain points right now for IMBs include liquidity constraints, volatility in the secondary markets, capacity issues from heightened refinance activity, mortgage origination obstacles due to social distancing, and escalating forbearance activity. All of these challenges could factor into the future profitability of many IMBs.”

Among the other key findings of MBA’s 2019 Annual Mortgage Bankers Performance Report:

• Average production volume was $2.7 billion (10,411 loans) per company in 2019, up from $2.0 billion (8,171 loans) per company in 2018. On a repeater company basis, average production volume was $2.94 billion (11,227 loans) in 2019, up from $2.14 billion (8,805 loans) in 2018. For the mortgage industry as whole, MBA estimates production volume at $2.17 trillion in 2019, up from $1.68 trillion in 2018.
• In basis points (bps), the average production profit (net production income) was 58 bps in 2019, compared to 14 bps in 2018. In the first half of 2019, net production income averaged 46 bps, then rose to 64 bps in the second half of 2019. Since the inception of MBA’s Annual Performance Report in 2008, net production income by year has averaged 50 bps ($1,057 per loan).
• The refinancing share of total originations (by dollar volume) increased to 34 percent in 2019 from 20 percent in 2018. For the mortgage industry as a whole, MBA estimates the refinancing share last year increased to 41 percent from 28 percent in 2018.
• The average loan balance for first mortgages reached a study-high of $266,533 in 2019, up from $251,084 in 2018. This is the 10th consecutive year of rising loan balances on first mortgages.
• Total production revenues (fee income, net secondary marking income and warehouse spread) were 356 bps in 2019, down from 362 bps in 2018. On a per-loan basis, production revenues were $9,004 per loan in 2019, up from $8,645 per loan in 2018.
• Total loan production expenses – commissions, compensation, occupancy, equipment, and other production expenses and corporate allocations – were $7,535 per loan in 2019, down from $8,278 in 2018.
• Personnel expenses averaged $5,094 per loan in 2019, down from $5,524 per loan in 2018.
• Productivity was 2.3 loans originated per production employee per month in 2019, up from 1.8 in 2018. Production employees include sales, fulfillment and production support functions.
• Net servicing financial income, which includes net servicing operational income, as well as MSR amortization and gains and losses on MSR valuations, was $116 per loan in 2019, down from $203 per loan in 2018.
• Including all business lines, 92 percent of the firms in the study posted pre-tax net financial profits in 2019, up from 69 percent in 2018. In the first half of 2019, 85 percent of reporting repeater firms posted pre-tax financial profits, compared to 93 percent in the second half of 2019.

MBA's Mortgage Bankers Performance Report series offers a variety of performance measures on the mortgage banking industry and is intended as a financial and operational benchmark for independent mortgage companies, subsidiaries and other non-depository institutions. Of the 271 firms that reported production, 80 percent were independent mortgage companies and remaining 20 percent were subsidiaries and other non-depository institutions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 15, 2020) — Mortgage applications increased 7.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 10, 2020.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 7.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 7 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 10 percent from the previous week and was 192 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 35 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

“The 30-year fixed mortgage rate decreased last week to the lowest level in MBA’s survey at 3.45 percent. The decline in rates – despite Treasury yields rising – is a sign that the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market is stabilizing and lenders are successfully working through their lending pipelines,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Refinance activity has experienced a volatile four-week period, but did increase 10 percent last week. Refinancing will continue to be beneficial for the many borrowers able to lower their monthly payments during this time of economic distress.”

Added Kan, “Purchase applications decreased less than 2 percent last week – the fifth straight weekly decline. Compared to the first week of March, the purchase index was down around 35 percent, as the economic downturn and nationwide mitigation practices to slow the spread of COVID-19 have disrupted the spring homebuying season. The purchase market is still expected to rebound, as long as the public health measures to reduce the pandemic’s spread are successful and result in a broader recovery.”

The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 76.2 percent of total applications from 74.2 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 2.7 percent of total applications.

Looking at the impact at the state level, here are results showing the non-seasonally adjusted, week-over-week percent change in the number of purchase applications from Washington, California and New York:

The FHA share of total applications decreased to 9.5 percent from 10.6 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications remained unchanged from 14.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged from 0.4 percent the week prior.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($510,400 or less) decreased to 3.45 percent from 3.49 percent, with points increasing to 0.29 from 0.28 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $510,400) decreased to 3.80 percent from 3.87 percent, with points decreasing to 0.23 from 0.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.45 percent from 3.54 percent, with points remaining unchanged at 0.19 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages remained unchanged at 3.04 percent, with points increasing to 0.27 from 0.25 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.34 percent from 3.39 percent, with points increasing to 0.35 from -0.02 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.

If you would like to purchase a subscription of MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey, please visitwww.mba.org/WeeklyApps, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or click here.

The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.