That equates to a total drop of 117,000 (-5.4%) from the same time last month.

As of June 15, 2.06 million (3.9%) homeowners remain in COVID-19 related forbearance plans including 2.3% of GSE, 6.9% of FHA/VA and 4.5% of Portfolio/PLS loans.

Improvements among GSE (-6,000) and FHA/VA (-4,000) plans were partially offset by a 3,000 increase in the number of active plans among portfolio held and privately securitized mortgages.

Both starts and exits fell this week, with removals down 50% from last week (due to typical mid-month behavior and month-end review cycles). Exit volumes are expected to ramp up toward the end of this month and, more acutely, in early July. Meanwhile, new plan starts saw one of their lowest weekly totals since the onset of the pandemic, continuing the trend of gradual declines in start activity.

There are still some 400,000 plans scheduled for quarterly reviews over the three weeks, which could lead to additional plan exits as we near the 4th of July. What happens in early July will largely dictate the outlook for later this year, according to Black Knight.