Florida Real Estate: Nearly 50% of Jacksonville Homes Are Underwater

Northern Florida is taking on water, and it's not the kind that falls from the sky. New data reveals that nearly half of Jacksonville, Fla.-area homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, meaning they owe more on their loan than their house is worth in the current market. Some 48.9 percent of Jackonsonville single-family homes registered negative equity in the second quarter of 2010, according to Zillow.com. Jacksonville homes have lost more than one-third of their value since the August 2006 peak, with the median price now at 2004 levels. Jacksonville's negative equity rate is more than twice the national average.