Here’s another sign that the mortgage crisis is not easing.

One in every 23 St. Louis-area borrowers (4.3 percent) was at least 90 days behind on mortgage payments in May, according to new data out this week from First American Core Logic. That’s a steep jump from the one in 33 (3 percent) recorded in the same month last year. It’s also up sharply from 3.6 percent in April, though those monthly numbers are somewhat volatile.

The number of loans in the foreclosure process jumped, too, to 1.1 percent in May from 0.8 percent a year prior. But the percentage of loans repossessed by banks in May fell, to 0.4 percent from 0.6 a year ago. That echoes other recent data suggesting that banks, in the St. Louis region at least, are acting more slowly to actually take over foreclosed homes - perhaps giving borrowers more time to work out loan modifications.

St. Louis is faring better than the nation as a whole. Across the country, 6.5 percent of mortgages are 90 days or more past due and 2.5 percent are in foreclosure. Those numbers have been growing faster than comparable St. Louis figure, a sign of relative stability in our region’s housing market.

While many housing advocates think the worst of the subprime mortgage crisis has passed, they report more borrowers having trouble keeping up with traditional prime mortgages because of job loss and falling home values. Those factors, some experts say, will keep mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures high for some time to come.

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