The Palm Beach Post reports from Florida. "As sobering as last week's existing-home-sales report was, Palm Beach County's home prices declined for the first time in seven years, the reality is a lot worse, I'm hearing from some corners of my beat. Other corners still believe that any local housing-market slowdown is mostly the fault of the media"

"The Florida Association of Realtors' report last week showed existing home prices in both Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast fell 6 percent in August, year over year. But prices have plunged a lot more than that, some readers say."

"'My office primarily sells property in central Palm Beach County,' writes broker Thomas Moffett. 'Most neighborhoods where we sell property, the average sales price has dropped more than 20 percent this year.'"

"Moffett thinks the problem with association reports is that they include all sales in Palm Beach County, including the $1 million-plus ones. 'It disguises what the true price is doing,' Moffett says. 'The over-a-million-dollar market is not affected by the economy and should be looked at separately from other real estate sales.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "Buffeted by the slowing real estate market, an Orlando-area apartment-to-condominium converter filed for Chapter 11 reorganization Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. 'No question that the slowing market is a factor here,' said lawyer Scott Shuker, who is representing the business."

"Shuker said Main Street USA has more than 100 investors. At least one investor lawsuit against the company is pending, he said. The company bought the Waldengreen Apartments in southwest Orlando late last year and converted the rental property to condo units selling for about $150,000 to $180,000 each. About 100 units in the 276-unit project have been sold, Shuker said."

"Main Street USA lost more than $3 million in deposits in an effort to purchase two other Orlando-area apartment complexes for conversion to condos. When its financial situation deteriorated, the company was unable to complete those deals."

"Metro Orlando was engulfed in condo conversions last year, at the height of the frenzied real estate market. And thousands of converted units are still being marketed. Many of the sales last year were to investors who hoped to realize a profit from a quick resale."

From the State in South Carolina. "Builders in Richland County are constructing homes at twice the rate that people are moving in, which means more homes are being left vacant."

"The number of vacant houses in Richland County, whether on the market or not, is up 53 percent from 2000. That’s an increase to 14,840 vacant homes in 2005 from 9,692 in 2000. 'If your housing stock is growing faster than your population, you would expect to have more vacant housing units,' said Joe Cronin, research manager for Richland County, who added that it could be a sign of overbuilding or a slowing real estate market."

"If the county continues to have more vacant homes on the market, it could translate to slower home sales and dropping prices. Some local real estate agents agreed the market has shifted. The total number of homes in the county is up 12 percent. Meanwhile, the total population is up only 6 percent."

"Broker Len Ross called the leap in vacant homes 'puzzling.'"

"Sherri Brosius, who sells homes in Northeast Richland and Kershaw County, said 'it definitely has moved from more of a seller’s market to more of a buyer’s market. Sellers need to be a little bit more conscious,' she said, meaning homes should be clean, in good repair and competitively priced."

"Statewide, the new numbers also showed signs of overbuilding. The number of housing units in South Carolina increased 10 percent in 2005, to 1.93 million. The number of vacant housing units in the state increased 33 percent, to 291,957."