The Sun Sentinel reports on some worried real estate professionals. "The real estate industry would be 'brought to its knees' if homeowners aren't allowed to take a property tax break with them when they move, Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits said Wednesday. 'We're going to reach a point where people are not going to be able to afford to move,' Nikolits said."

"Nikolits also thinks portability should be restricted to a homeowner moving within the same county. Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish agreed. 'We could devastate a small community if it were to go statewide.'"

"Real estate agent Mike Kleinrichert, who attended Nikolits' speech, said at least a third of his listings are from people who want to move out of Florida, in part because of rising property taxes here. 'Portability would be a fantastic thing for our community,' he said."

From the Miami Herald. "Residential developers proclaimed last year the time had come to move Miami-Dade's Urban Development Boundary to build new homes on hundreds of acres of land. But now the same developers are in headlong retreat. On Wednesday, developer Lucky Start became the third home builder in recent weeks to announce it is yanking its bid."

"The three biggest residential projects are now out of the bidding. Lucky Start's 193-acre Newest Kendall project was the latest, Shoma Homes withdrew in February and Adrian Development Group withdrew last week. 'It's a beautiful project, but the timing is not right,' said Commission Chair Joe Martinez, who met with Lucky Start's Fernandez this week. 'Let them apply next cycle.'"

A reader sent in this press release. "Cane Island is D R Horton's flagship development for 2006. The luxury condo resort community is centrally located on the south side of US 192, almost within sight of Walt Disney World and Celebration."

"The developer reduced prices substantially a few weeks ago to try to get more contracts signed. The problem is that there are very few buyers around to take advantage of the reduced prices. In a further effort to get things moving in the face of a stagnant market, D R Horton has announced that they will increase co-operating broker commission for the next few days in the hope of getting brokers to push their buyers into action."

"Hightower Realty followed the builder's announcement with one of their own, they will add the full amount of the increased broker commission to their cashback offer. So buyers over the next few days will get $13,000 cashback on condos priced from $283,000. It is too early to say if the extended period of weakness in the Orlando property market that has followed the last two years of unprecedented price rises is past the worse."

And a March report from that realtors website. "Any hope of an early return to a balanced market were firmly dashed by February's statistics. The inventory of short term rental homes surged again to by far its highest level, bringing our in-house index well into the red zone for the first time."

"The number of vacation homes added to the inventory increased by almost 15% as more owners decided the time was right to take the capital gain on their homes. Buyers, meanwhile, remained thin on the ground, with only half as many sales closing compared to the heady days of last summer."

"Based on these figures it is difficult to see how a more balanced market could re-appear for several more months. Prices have already dropped by 6 or 7% from their peak of last summer, and it now looks as though my earlier guess that the market would bottom out at 10% down may be optimistic. An eventual drop of 15% from the peak is a real possibility now, still a long way above prices of even two years ago, but disappointing for sellers who were already getting ready to count their capital gains."

"For buyers, of course, the latest statistics are much more comforting. Prices are already well off their peak, and there are some exceptional bargains where sellers are desperate to sell before things get worse. Now is the time to start looking seriously, although you don't have to rush, as there will still be plenty of homes to choose from for several months at least."