Squeezed by higher living costs and a slowing real estate market, more Florida homeowners are having a tougher time keeping up with their mortgage payments than a year ago, according to a national study.

As of Sept. 30, 2.76 percent of 3.3 million mortgages in Florida were more than 30 days past due, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. That's up from 2.47 percent of 3.1 million mortgages a year ago, and a slight uptick from June.

Still, Florida's overall delinquency rate ranks below the national average. And Florida's foreclosure rate of 0.60 percent -- or about one foreclosure for every 19,800 loans -- was also well below the national rate of 1.05 percent.

While the numbers remain relatively low, late payments and foreclosures continue rising nationally, driven in part by the slowing pace of job growth, a cooling housing market and a large pool of borrowers facing interest rate hikes on adjustable-rate mortgages.

Robert Stok, a lawyer in Aventura who specializes in foreclosures, said the region's economic strength is shielding borrowers from some of the pressures seen in other parts of the country, such as Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, where the loss of manufacturing jobs have hurt the housing sector.

"It's beginning to inch upward," he said of his local foreclosure business, "but I think it'll level off in the next few months or so. Property owners are holding on to their assets for the most part. Interest rates are still low enough to enable them to do that, and there's also a relatively healthy rental market for investors."

Borrowers with less than stellar credit history, however, are showing the greatest signs of payment fatigue.

The MBA said late payments and foreclosures rose faster among these borrowers, especially those whose loans have adjustable interest rates. Subprime loans now make up between 12 and 15 percent of all loans, said the MBA.

Doug Duncan, the MBA's chief economist, emphasized that nationally 95 percent of homeowners are meeting their monthly obligations. "The market is functioning as we expected," Duncan said. He did say he expects further increases in delinquency rates well into 2007.

Florida's delinquency problems, he said, are mainly the result of real estate price slowdowns. He hopes the market will rebound next year. Meanwhile, in the stalemate between buyers and sellers, "more folks are going delinquent rather than selling out."

In the numbers released Wednesday, interest-only mortgages and option payment ARMS, which allow borrowers to make low monthly payments, did not appear to drive the increase in defaults, Duncan said, adding the loans were relatively new to the market. He said it's uncertain what impact these exotic mortgages might have in the future.

Although MBA statistics track late payments and foreclosures of first mortgages only, the numbers are a considered a reliable barometer of the overall condition of the mortgage market. Typically, loan delinquencies occur within three to five years of origination.

Foreclosure statistics compiled by various private companies that provide real estate leads to investors vary widely depending on how foreclosures are defined and counted.

RealtyTrac, for instance, reported last month that Miami and Fort Lauderdale had foreclosure rates of about four times the national average. RealtyTrac includes initial default notices and other legal actions in its data.