New Jersey surpassed Florida with the highest share of U.S. mortgages in foreclosure in the first quarter as delinquencies fell to pre-crisis levels.

In New Jersey, 8.12 percent of mortgages were in the foreclosure process, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. While that was down from about 9 percent a year earlier, it was the only state to see an increase from the previous three months. The share in Florida declined to 7.62 percent from about 11.4 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Both states require court approval for home seizures.

New Jersey is at the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis as banks work through a backlog of delinquent loans that allows troubled borrowers to skip mortgage payments for years. By contrast, hard-hit areas such as Arizona and California have some of the lowest levels of soured loans after allowing banks to quickly repossess homes after the 2007 real estate crash.

The foreclosure inventory rate in New Jersey “has basically been flat for three years at this high level,” Michael Fratantoni, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, said in a telephone interview. “Everywhere else things are improving and at an accelerating pace in some areas.”

Across the U.S., the serious delinquency rate, which measures loans at least 90 days behind or in foreclosure, fell in the first quarter to a seasonally adjusted 5.04 percent, the lowest level since 2008, according to the report. The rate was 6.39 percent a year earlier.