More U.S. homeowners are surfacing from underwater mortgages, but the Greater Miami area lags behind the national average.

In the U.S., 2.5 million, or 4.9 percent, of mortgaged homes had negative equity in the third quarter, according to Irvine, California-based financial and property information and analytics provider CoreLogic Inc.

In the same time period, the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan area remained not only behind this trend, but it also was the most challenged of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. by housing stock, according to CoreLogic.

A total of 13.4 percent of all mortgages had negative equity share in the Greater Miami area, followed by Las Vegas with 10.3 percent and Chicago with 9.9 percent, according to CoreLogic.

In the Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas, the percentage of underwater mortgages also was higher than the national average, Ayers added.

“What we saw in Fort Lauderdale and really across most of Florida was a big roller coaster ride” in home prices, Ayers said. “Prices shot up … very rapid price gains. When the bottom came in, you saw very large declines. If you bought before the boom, you are probably OK. … But if you bought in that select little period during the boom, you are probably still underwater on your home.”

In Florida, 9 percent of mortgaged properties had negative equity in the third quarter, behind only Louisiana at 10.1 percent, according to CoreLogic.

The homeowners who are still underwater on their mortgages likely bought when prices peaked during the housing boom, said Ben Ayers, senior economist for insurance and financial Fortune 100 firm Nationwide.

That means underwater homeowners who sell now might be selling at a loss, he added.

About 63 percent of U.S. homeowners have mortgages, according to CoreLogic.