The Herald Tribune has this update from Florida. "North Port may be the fault line for the downturn in the Southwest Florida housing market. The adrenaline of a real-estate gold rush has given way in a matter of months to a buyer's market."

"Local builders blame investors for the downturn, saying they flooded the market, bought up houses and tried to flip them. And now there's simply too much inventory."

"All along Price and Toledo Blade boulevards, North Port's 'builders' row,' the signs of the cooling housing market are flapping in front of almost every model home in big, bold letters: $10,000 in free upgrades, $20,000 buyer's bonus, homes starting below $200,000."

"On top of that, some builders are offering giveaways like a chance to win a trip to Bermuda, a $10,000 gift card to a Rooms To Go furniture store, free moving expenses, an eight-night hotel stay or a shopping spree at Wal-Mart."

"A year ago, when the city was issuing more than 350 permits a month and builders had customers on waiting lists because they couldn't build fast enough, marketing tactics like these were unheard of in this fast-growing city. But today, as the flood of customers has slowed to a trickle, home builders are reaching out in new ways to attract buyers and move their stalled inventory."

"North Port officials had expected to permit more than 5,000 single-family homes this year, but in May issued just 74 permits. That followed only 88 in April."

"'Everybody is doing something; you have to,' said Marge Weber, a new home specialist with Jade Homes. 'We're sitting here not selling many homes.'"

"More than 1,400 homes, 377 of which were built this year, are listed for sale with agents in North Port. That's not counting the houses that are for sale by owner and many builders' spec homes. Combined, some real estate professionals estimate, close to 5,000 homes are sitting on the market in the city."

"The only other area where builders are offering such incentives is Orlando, according to the Florida Home Builders Association. Around Orlando, builders are raffling off Mini Cooper cars, furniture packages and vacation getaways, behavior Beth McGee, executive director of the home builders association there, hasn't seen in more than a decade."

"'For a long time, they couldn't keep up; they couldn't build them fast enough to accommodate the sales,' McGee said. 'Well, now they've caught up.'"