Nearly a quarter of homeowners have negative equity

Nearly a quarter of South Florida homeowners have negative equity in
their homes, meaning they owe more on their mortgages than their homes
are worth, according to third-quarter data from real estate Web site
Zillow.com. Of the buyers who purchased in 2006, when the market was at
its peak, 79.2 percent now have negative equity. Home values fell 21.5
percent in third-quarter 2008 compared to third-quarter 2007. Biscayne
Park in Miami-Dade County, the city with the steepest decline in the
area, saw price drops of 32.2 percent. Nationwide, according to the Zillow.com data, home prices fell 9.7 percent.