SoFla still tops in delinquent mortgages

Delinquent mortgages have dropped in South Florida over the past four years, but the region still has more than any other major metropolitan area in the nation.

Through the third quarter of 2013, nearly 16 percent of all first mortgages in the tri-county area were at least 90 days past due or in foreclosure, the Sun-Sentinel reported. That ranked first in the Urban Institute’s breakdown of the delinquent mortgage rate in the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. Poughkeepsie, N.Y. was second with a delinquency rate of 15.7 percent.

South Florida’s delinquency rate has substantially declined from the real estate downturn, however. The region’s rate was 23.7 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2009.

The current average rate for the largest metro areas was 7.6 percent. [Sun-Sentinel] — Eric Kalis