Ladera Ranch was Orange County’s most “underwater” community by the end of 2012, figures from Zillow.com show.

The real estate website reported Thursday that 32.6 percent of the Ladera Ranch homes with a mortgage were underwater in the fourth quarter of 2012, or were worth less than was owed on the mortgage.

In all, 1,600 homes there were underwater.

While numbers of “negative equity” and foreclosures were highest in lower-income communities in central and north-inland portions of Orange County, Ladera Ranch and other newer South County communities tended to have higher rates of underwater homes and foreclosures because homes there were built and sold during the housing bubble.

City/Community Pct. U’Water Ladera Ranch 32.6% Stanton 31.9% Aliso Viejo 29.0% Santa Ana 28.6% Rancho Santa Margarita 28.2% Anaheim 24.4% La Habra 24.2% Buena Park 24.0% Lake Forest 23.0% Tustin 22.6% Silverado 22.1% Garden Grove 21.7% San Juan Capistrano 21.7% Placentia 20.6% Laguna Hills 20.1% Coto de Caza 20.1% Orange 19.8% Fullerton 18.8% Laguna Niguel 18.3% Brea 18.2% San Clemente 17.6% Mission Viejo 17.4% Westminster 16.5% Costa Mesa 16.5% Cypress 16.1% Laguna Woods 15.7% La Palma 15.5% Yorba Linda 15.3% Irvine 15.0% Dana Point 13.9% North Tustin 13.4% Huntington Beach 12.8% Fountain Valley 12.1% Los Alamitos 10.0% Villa Park 9.2% Newport Beach 7.4% Laguna Beach 6.3%

For example, 29 percent of the mortgages in Aliso Viejo were underwater in the fourth quarter, the third-highest percentage among O.C. communities. And 28.2 percent of Rancho Santa Margarita mortgages were underwater, the fifth-highest rate.

Countywide, 91,128 local homes were worth less than was owed on their mortgages, or 19.6 percent of all mortgaged homes, Zillow reported. The percentage of underwater homes fell from 21.3 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

Orange County’s negative equity totaled $13 billion.

Laguna Beach had the lowest percentage of homes that were underwater. According to Zillow, 317 Laguna homes – or 6.3 percent of the homes with a mortgage – were underwater in the fourth quarter.

Zillow reported further: