The share of St. Louisans who are far behind on their mortgage dipped again in June, as it has every month this year, according to new numbers out today from real estate data firm Core Logic. But the ranks of people actually facing foreclosure continues to slowly swell.

The figures may be a sign that banks are working through their rolls of delinquent borrowers and launching more foreclosures. But also that that pipeline of delinquent borrowers is easing a bit.

In its report, Core Logic tracks three numbers:

- The 90-day delinquency rate: How many borrowers are 90 days or more behind on payments, typically an early warning sign for foreclosure.

- The foreclosure rate: How many homes are actually in the foreclosure process

- The REO rate: How many homes are repossessed by the bank; the end of foreclosure.

The delinquency rate peaked in January, at 5.89 percent of mortgages. Since then, it has fallen to 5.32, still well ahead of historic averages but down significantly from the peak.

The foreclosure rate has climbed steadily, but not all that steeply, over the last year and a half. It was 1.48 percent in June.

REOs are lower still, at 0.5 percent in June. That's up from last fall, when banks were delaying repossessions for all sorts of reasons, but roughly the same as early 2009.

 

If this keeps up, it bodes well for the housing market and other big chunks of the local economy. If it keeps up.

Housing advocates say they're not seeing any noticeable decline in people coming to them for help, and that more of the people they do see are struggling not because of exploding subprime mortgages but because they lost a job. Until that changes, we're still pretty deep in the woods.

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