Missouri foreclosures drop through May

Foreclosures in the Show-Me State dropped 3 percent through May, according to recently released data by real estate market tracker CoreLogic.

For the 12-month period ended May 31, foreclosures totaled 12,052, down from 12,436 a year earlier, according to a news release.

Comparatively, 461,638 foreclosures were completed nationwide during the 12-month period, a 17.6 percent decrease. In May, U.S. foreclosures totaled 38,000, a decline from 41,000 in the same month of 2015 and the peak of 117,813 set in September 2010.

"Delinquency and foreclosure rates continue to drop as we experience the benefits of a combination of tight underwriting, job and income growth, and a steady rise in home prices. We expect these factors to remain in place for the remainder of this year and for delinquency and foreclosure rates to decline even further," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in the release. "As we finally move past the housing crisis, we need to increase our focus on expanding the supply of affordable housing and access to credit for first-time homebuyers in sustainable ways to ensure the long-term health of the U.S. housing market."

In May, Missouri’s foreclosure inventory - representing homes at some point of the foreclosure process - was 0.5 percent, compared with 1 percent on the national level.