The Miami Herald reports on falling prices in Florida. "Around South Florida, many are doing what would have been unthinkable six months earlier: They're slashing the asking price of their houses, townhomes and condos, and even throwing in incentives. The Florida Board of Realtors reports that prices of homes were lower in February than in January in Miami-Dade and Broward counties."

"Take an owner of a 1,400-square-foot pool home just west of Coral Gables. The owner had already dropped the asking price by $62,000, asking $588,000 for his remodeled home. But when Juan Saiz came to tour the ranch-style three-bedroom home at an open house, the owner had knocked off another $10,000. Saiz himself settled for $35,000 less when he recently sold his Coral Gables condo for $390,000."

"In the last few months, the market has begun shifting to buyers, who have more than double the number of homes to choose from than they did a year ago. 'The market has definitely shifted,' says Keyes real estate agent Luisa Mackay. 'Nowadays, there is so much more inventory.'"

"Some owners have been steadily dropping prices. Sellers of a 2,700-square-foot home south of Bird Road near the Palmetto Expressway, for example, have dropped their asking price twice, from $749,000 to the current $660,000."

"Philip J. Spiegelman, who represents dozens of condo developers, says the current market is likely to discourage many from building additional condos in the near future, even if they have done pre-construction sales, because they would lose money."

"Even apartments being turned into condominiums have been affected. Many developers are resorting to creative incentives to lure buyers. The Marquesa condominium in Pembroke Pines recently was giving away a 27-month lease on a Jeep Liberty with any purchase of a two-bedroom unit. 'No strings attached. Buy the unit, get a car,' says Israel Kreps, a spokesman for the development."

"Others are just resorting to the basic discount. In one gated community in western Miramar, Keyes real estate agent Nancy Remedios was telling prospective buyers at an open house that her client had lowered his asking price from $929,000 to $898,000 for his 5,700-square-foot luxury home. Plus, he had just called to tell her he would help pay closing costs. That's a good tactic, real estate agents say."

"After all, buyers 'are looking for the best deal they can find,' says (agent) Tony Rios Jr."