The Naples news has this report on Floridas housing bubble. "With season in full swing in south Lee and Collier, the first signs of what a cooling-off of the real estate market here looks like are starting to emerge. The market is flush with sellers, many seeking to cash out on appreciation gains that have been among the highest in the country."

"It’s a buyers market in the two-county area, 'but the sellers don’t know it yet,' said Joe Ballarino, a past president of the Naples Area Board of Realtors."

"As of last week, there were more than 8,000 homes and condominiums on the market in the Naples area, almost as many as the roughly 8,900 that sold during all of last year, Ballarino said."

"Carol Dicupero, an agent in Naples, said prices appear to be coming down daily, but buyers aren’t jumping in. 'Buyers may be taking a wait-and-see attitude,' she said. Downward price pressure is a function of how desperate sellers are to get out of the market."

"The hundreds of units that have washed onto the market represent a sharp contrast to the fall when business and government leaders, worried about an affordable housing crunch, noted that there were less than a handful of units on the market for under $200,000."

The Palm Beach Post. "Major commercial lenders are withdrawing from financing South Florida condo construction and conversion deals, another sign the overheated market may be too hot to handle. 'We are seeing lenders overall pulling the plug,' said Dan Kodsi, a developer in Boca Raton."

"It's not only lenders on the construction end who are newly nervous about risk. The federal government hopes to damp the sale of exotic home mortgages which enable even credit-poor prospective homeowners to buy. So, even if condo developers get financing, condo buyers may not."

"The likely upshot: 'There are many thousands of condo units announced as future projects or in the planning stages that will never get going,' predicts Bradley Hunter. 'They won't even get to the starting line.'"

"You don't have to be a real estate whiz to spot the early warning signs that condo financing is being hamstrung by everything from the high price of construction to skittishness over rising interest rates. 'See how many are dark at night,' said Jack McCabe of condos newly on the market. 'There might be one light on for every 20 units. People are not living there. It is the height of the season, but they are sitting dark.'"

"Rebel Cook, a local broker, said, 'People call me every day asking me to sell their properties.' Real estate agent Darlene Delano said when she recently took a client to view a North Flagler condo, it was empty. 'This is a four-story building and we did not see one person while we were parking, or on any floor,' Delano said. 'In fact, we didn't see anyone from the time we walked in, to the time we left.'"

"Even 'pre-sold' buildings are struggling. That's because would-be owners who put down deposits thinking they would secure a 2.5 percent interest rate mortgage are now facing rates of 5.5 percent and higher, just as the condo is ready for occupancy, and they have to sign mortgage papers. 'Within the last three weeks, I have seen several reservation holders who walked away from earnest money deposits,' McCabe said. 'There was a fellow who had put over $100,000 down who walked away.'"

"The more optimistic believe that empty condos will ease the shortage of affordable apartments, as investors who can't sell opt for leasing their empty units. Delano said she represents several people 'who have bought units and now are unable to sell them, so they are contemplating renting.'"

"But, she said, most condo deeds restrict rentals. Further, 'People are not going to be able to rent these out at anywhere near the amount needed to cover' their costs, McCabe said. That's because many of the new units were designed to appeal to the luxury market, and a lease big enough to cover seven-figure mortgages is out of reach for many renters." "Balin agreed. 'The numbers don't work as a rental,' he said."