Report: Seriously delinquent mortgages persist across South Florida By Paul Owers

South Florida's seriously delinquent mortgage rate has declined over the past four years but still remains the highest of the nation's 100 largest metro areas, a new report shows. As of the third quarter of 2013, 15.8 percent of all first mortgages in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were at least 90 days past due or already in the foreclosure process, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C. The three-county region has posted the highest seriously delinquent mortgage rate since the third quarter of 2009, when it was 23.7 percent. The group began tracking mortgages on a quarterly basis in early 2009. RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based company, releases monthly figures on homes in some stage of foreclosure. The Urban Institute data go beyond that to include loans that are nearing the foreclosure process. While the housing market is improving, "it's far too early to say the crisis has passed," said Rob Pitingolo, author of the report.