Missouri foreclosures drop 10% in 2016

Missouri foreclosures totaled 10,334 in 2016, a 10.2 percent decrease compared with 11,508 in 2015, according to real estate market tracker CoreLogic.

As of Dec. 31, 0.5 percent of Show-Me State homes were in some stage of the foreclosure process. The state’s December serious delinquency rate — referring to the percentage of mortgage loans at least 90 days past due — was 2.2 percent, according to a news release.

Comparatively, the U.S. foreclosure count came to 384,161 in 2016, a 24 percent drop from 506,171 in 2015. The country’s foreclosure inventory was 0.8 percent in December and its serious delinquency rate was 2.6 percent.

"Foreclosure and delinquency trends continue to head in the right direction, powered principally by increasing employment levels, stringent underwriting standards and higher home prices over the past few years. We expect to see further declines in delinquency and foreclosure rates in 2017," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in the release. "As the foreclosure inventory diminishes, we must look ahead and tackle tight housing supply and growing affordability issues which are keeping many potential homebuyers, especially first-time buyers, on the sidelines."