Florida ranks third for underwater mortgages

Florida has the third-highest concentration of negative equity in the nation, with 46 percent of homeowners statewide owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to a new report from CoreLogic. Still, the number is on the decline. Florida saw a 0.9 percentage point decrease in negative equity during the third quarter, compared to the 0.5 percent percentage point decrease reported nationwide. Overall, 22.5 percent of all residential U.S. properties had underwater mortgages as of the end of the third quarter. “The good news is that negative equity is slowly declining, but the bad news is that price declines are accelerating, which may put a stop to or reverse the recent improvement in negative equity,” Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic said of the latest data. TRD