When will COVID-19 forbearance extensions end?
February 17, 2021
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In this HousingWire Daily episode, HW+ Managing Editor Brena Nath covers the latest COVID-19 forbearance extensions. On Tuesday, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it had extended COVID-19 foreclosure and forbearance moratoriums for FHA and USDA loans to June 30, 2021.
For the episode, Greg McBride, senior vice president and chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com joins the podcast to share his insights on what the COVID-19 forbearance and foreclosure relief programs mean for homeowners and people in the housing finance industry. During the interview, he shares a recap on the past extensions, the pros and cons of the latest extension and at what point he thinks the extensions will end.
In his reaction to the extension, McBride said, “The year-long forbearance initially afforded through the CARES Act seemed sufficient at the time, but the pandemic and its economic fallout is dragging on far longer than had been expected.”
Here’s a preview of the podcast interview, as McBride comments on when he thinks the forbearance extensions will end.
I’ll cut to the chase and say that the extensions that we’ve seen now through June 30, those probably won’t be the last. And the reason for that is, what do we have to see happen? Two things: one, obviously, the pandemic itself. We’ve got to get that in the rearview mirror however we measure that right, whether it’s herd immunity or vaccinations reaching a certain number of households. We’ve got to get to that point. But then secondly, even then, we’ve got to recognize that even post-pandemic, we’re still going to have this lingering hangover of long-term unemployment. We got over 20 million Americans drawing some form of unemployment compensation right now. Not all 20 million are going back to work at their previous income, the day the pandemic is behind us, the day that we’re given the all clear. It’s just not going to happen. It’s going to take time, and those numbers have to come down meaningfully, I think, before we’re in a position where you can start to see these these programs be sunset.
Articles covered in this episode:
