The total number of loans now in forbearance decreased for the first time since March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest survey.

The Forbearance and Call Volume Survey, which began in March, showed that 8.48  percent of servicers’ portfolio volume was in forbearance as of June 14, down from 8.55 percent in the prior week. The MBA estimates that 4.2 million homeowners are now in forbearance plans, down from almost 4.3 million homeowners the prior week.

Ginnie Mae loans continued to have the largest overall share of loans in forbearance, remaining at 11.83 percent for a third week. The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance dropped for the second week in a row to 6.31 percent, a 7-basis-point improvement. The forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities declined by 19 basis points to 9.99 percent. The percentage of loans in forbearance for depository servicers dropped to 9.15 percent, and for independent mortgage bank servicers, it decreased to 8.40 percent.

Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, said the results underscored continued improvements in the job market, providing “another sign of the fundamental health of the housing market, which has rebounded considerably over the past several weeks.”

“The big unknown with respect to this positive development is the extent to which it relies upon policy measures put in place to help families through this crisis, particularly the stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment insurance benefits that were key parts of the CARES Act,” Fratantoni said. “We expect to see further improvements in the weeks ahead given the drop in forbearance requests this week.”

Calls to mortgage servicers also decreased from 8 percent of servicing portfolio volume to 7.7 percent.