Florida mortgage debt falling

Mortgage borrowers in Florida reduced their debt by more than $3 billion in the second quarter of 2011. At the same time, those borrowers' combined property values increased by $5 billion, according to an estimate issued by CoreLogic.

Those two trends increased net home equity among Florida borrowers to $100 billion, up from roughly $91 billion three months ago.

Still, the state's borrowers are highly leveraged. The loan-to-value ratio in Florida was at roughly 88% at the end of the quarter, down just one percentage point over the three-month period. Only two states — Arizona (93.1%) and Nevada (112.7%) — have higher leverage ratios.

Roughly 45% of Florida mortgage borrowers owe more than the value of their homes, or are “underwater” on their current loans, CoreLogic estimates. That number is essentially unchanged over the past three months.

On a regional level, rates for underwater mortgages are down, but only slightly — from 49% to 47% in Cape Coral-Fort Myers, from 42% to 41% in North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, and unchanged in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, at 48%.