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Some 9.7 million homes, or 19.8 percent of all U.S. homes with a mortgage, were in negative equity at the end of the first quarter, according to data provider CoreLogic. That's down from 10.5 million, or 21.7 percent of homes with a mortgage, at the end of last year. In a healthy housing market, underwater mortgages historically account for about 5 percent of all homes with a mortgage. Most of the homes in some stage of foreclosure as of July are tied to home loans that were made during the housing boom, before banks tightened their lending standards. Of the 562,533 homes already on the foreclosure path, 71 percent have loans that were originated between 2004 and 2008, the firm said. In Florida, nearly 80 percent of the homes in the foreclosure process have loans that date back to the housing bubble years. That's one reason the state registered the highest foreclosure rate of any state last month, or more than three times the national average, RealtyTrac said. The state's foreclosure starts decreased 28 percent from a year earlier, but completed foreclosures jumped 13 percent. Rounding out the top 10 states by foreclosure rate last month were Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, New Mexico, Illinois, Nevada, Georgia, South Carolina and Utah.
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