Mo. foreclosures decline through March

Completed foreclosures in Missouri for the 12-month period ended March 31 totaled 11,920, a 4.4 percent decrease from 12,466 a year earlier.

In March, the Show-Me State’s foreclosure inventory - representing the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure process - was 0.5 percent. That’s below the national average of 1.1 percent, according to a news release from real estate market tracker CoreLogic.

Completed foreclosures nationwide in March dropped 14 percent to 36,000 from 42,000 a year earlier. It’s also down 69.7 percent from the peak of 117,782 in September 2010.

U.S. homes seriously delinquent - meaning those with mortgages that are 90 days or more past due - decreased 19.2 percent to 1.2 million in March. Missouri’s serious delinquency rate during the month was 2.5 percent, according to the release.

"Delinquencies and foreclosure rates are now at precrash levels as the benefits of higher home prices, improving economic fundamentals and years of cautious underwriting are being felt across the country," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in the release. "Longer term, as loans made since 2009 account for a larger share of outstanding debt, we anticipate that the serious delinquency rate will have further substantive declines."