Foreclosures reportedly expected to remain 'extremely uncommon' until at least 2022

Foreclosures are "almost certain to remain extremely uncommon" for home owners "until 2022" at the earliest, even though the federal government's pandemic-related moratorium on the practice is set to end later this month, Axios reports.

For starters, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a new rule called Regulation X that "would effectively ban foreclosures until the end of 2021," and even though it's not yet in force, Axios notes, the CFPB and state regulators "have made it clear to servicers that they will take a very dim view of any attempts to foreclose on homes in the interim."

Plus, the "overwhelming majority" of the 2.1 million homeowners who are still in forbearance have "substantial positive equity" in their homes, Black Knight economist Andy Walden told Axios. "It's almost the exact opposite of what we saw during" the 2008 financial crisis when millions of homeowners were underwater on their mortgages, he said. Read more at Axios.

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