Are things looking up for real estate in Florida? The news is up for interpretation. 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. However, 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. TRD
On December 14, 2010 the Sun Sentinel reported that the number of homes worth less than the values of their mortgages declined in the third quarter, but it was due to foreclosures of underwater properties, rather than an increase in home values, according to research firm CoreLogic. In Broward County, half of all homes with a mortgage — 220,384 properties — were underwater, a decrease from 52 percent in the second quarter. In Palm Beach County, the percentage of homes with an underwater mortgage fell to 43 percent from 44 percent in the second quarter.