Florida dominates as the mortgage fraud capital of the country.

Again.

Florida last year had more than three times the expected number of reported mortgage fraud and misrepresentation based on the number of mortgages that originated here, according to a report released Monday by the LexisNexis Mortgage Asset Research Institute. It's been No. 1 since at least 2006, based on data from the institute.

New York remained in second place, followed by California.

Reports of fraud and material misrepresentation submitted to the Mortgage Asset Research Institute fell 41 percent from 2009 to 2010, the first drop in several years.

But the report said the drop does not necessarily mean occurrences of mortgage fraud are down. To the contrary, the institute said it believes mortgage fraud cases are still rising according to several industry sources. It attributed the drop, in part, to fewer mortgage loans being made and fewer resources available to investigate and report incidents of fraud.

"Mortgage fraud has become more complex and harder to verify using traditional methods," said Denise James, co-author of the report.