Foreclosures in St. Louis Increase 50 Percent in July from a Year Ago; Mortgage Delinquencies Follow Suit

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Anyone that follows any of my posts on various real estate blogs may well be getting tired of hearing me talk about foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates.  This is no doubt especially true when I am doing it in the context of  trying to “chill” the excitement over recent “good” news on the housing market.  However, there is good reason for this; these two issues are real problems, including right here in St. Louis, and they are not going away anytime soon.

This was evidenced in a report released today by First American CoreLogic which showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate of 1.20 percent in July, 2009, a whopping 50 percent increase from the 0.80 percent rate in July, 2008.  The report also showed that the rate of seriously delinquent home loans (90 days or more past due) in St. Louis was 4.50 percent  for July, 2009, a increase of 45 percent from the 3.10 percent rate in July 2008.   

On a good note both the delinquency rate and foreclosure rates for St. Louis were below the national average.  The national 90+ day delinquency rate was 6.86 percent for July and the national foreclosure rate was 2.79 percent.