Late payments, rates surge in South Florida

Interest rates reached their highest levels for the year to date, and the number of regional homeowners who couldn’t keep up with payments almost doubled in June. Housing prices dropped an average of 20.5 percent across Broward and Miami-Dade counties last month. The median existing home price there is now $299,300, and Moody’s Economy.com says the percentage of borrowers with lagging mortgage payments here is substantially higher than the national average of 4.62 percent. Miami-Dade condo sales rose in the quarter that ended June 30, with a 6 percent rise but no major change in the median price of $275,600.