The Orlando Sentinel reports on the condo craze. "The unprecedented boom in condominium towers is remaking downtown Orlando's skyline. But with fewer than half of the 30 announced projects completed or under construction, the timing, even the survival, of the rest is now in question because of rising costs and prices."

"Those 18 unbuilt projects are competing not only with one another but with the eight towers that are being built and with sales in the four that are already open. They also have to contend with the thousands of city-center units in apartment-to-condo conversions."

"'At best, there could be delays,' said Charlie Lentz, director for a national real-estate-consulting firm. 'At worst, some projects may not be financially feasible at this time.'"

"The housing market has softened this year, and some of the downtown projects are clearly stalled. North Orange Condominiums was first proposed in late 2002 as apartments for a site just north of Colonial Drive. Yet the site remains vacant, a sales office has come and gone, and the developer couldn't be reached for comment last week."

The Sun Sentinel. "During the past six years, South Florida's landscape shifted from low-slung homes to condominiums hundreds of feet high. The seemingly unstoppable juggernaut has come face-to-face with economic realities making even the most maverick developers gun-shy."

"As supply outpaces demand, prices already are leveling off and values of newer condos could tumble by 30 percent or more by the time the market hits bottom, experts say. 'The condo market isn't just breaking lightly,' Miami real estate consultant Lewis Goodkin said. 'It's screeching to a halt.'"

"As a result of rampant overbuilding, lenders are leery of financing condo construction, forcing developers across the region to cancel, delay or revamp projects."

"As of June 30, almost 52,000 condo units in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were either under construction or finished and still vacant, according to Metrostudy. That doesn't include the thousands of units built in South Florida since 2000, when the housing boom started."

"Roughly 104,000 units are planned in the coming years, although analysts doubt most of those will ever be built. 'Things are going to get worse before they get better,' warned economist Mark Zandi."

"Once housing became so hot, developers started buying land in less than prime locations, Goodkin said. And it will be those condos that are most vulnerable to big price cuts, he said. 'As we got more and more into the boom, what we found was that a lot of basics were overlooked,' Goodkin said. '[Developers] started to believe their press clippings. It got out of hand.'"

"Analysts say the condo problems can be traced to short-term investors, who funneled money into real estate after taking a beating on Wall Street. That trend artificially inflated demand, driving up prices and leading developers to build more."

"Across South Florida, not enough long-term owners bought condos, creating a glut of properties for sale as investors try to dump them. More than 11,000 units remain unoccupied in South Florida, according to Metrostudy. Investors are desperate: they're slashing prices and tossing in plasma TVs and other perks to woo fickle buyers."

"In Palm Beach County, for example, more than a quarter of the 379 condos at The Moorings in Lantana are for sale. One real estate listing agent said earlier this year owners were mostly investors looking to bail. Completed properties in Broward and Miami-Dade also have investor-owners trying to get out."

"Industry observers call these high-rises with many vacancies 'see-through condos.' 'You can see right through the building because no one's living there,' Miami housing consultant Jack Winston said."

"Certain lenders have stopped financing condo construction. Others have tightened lending practices, insisting on 60 percent or more pre-sales. Before, some lenders had no pre-sale requirements. 'That's going to kill a lot of projects,' said consultant Jack McCabe."

"Already hurt by rising costs of construction materials, developers have canceled projects, returned deposits, put land up for sale and are at risk of foreclosure. 'I don't know anybody who's doing much residential now,' said Doug McCraw, a Fort Lauderdale builder who canceled his 205-unit Brickell Point condo tower."

"Developers and investors are trying to salvage something from the condo downturn by converting units back to apartments. More than 1,800 units in Palm Beach County converted to condos have gone back to apartments since the start of 2004, according to McCabe's research. In Broward, 1,088 condos became apartments, while 672 condos in Miami-Dade returned to apartments."

"'The thing that sellers liked to say is that if you don't buy now, someone else will,' said Michael Cannon, managing director for Integra Realty Resources in Miami-Dade. 'Those other people aren't there anymore.'"

"In Palm Beach County, the 550Q condo project has been shelved. Steve Maslo had reserved a two-bedroom $800,000 condo at 550Q. Maslow is relieved the project won't be built in such a tenuous environment. 'It just seems like the market hasn't yet found its equilibrium point,' he said."