The News Press reports from Florida. "Condo sales have slowed during the past few months. In September, 61 existing condos were sold, compared to 126 during the same month a year ago. The median price dropped, from $316,800 in September 2005 to $305,600 this year."

"'The residential market, I wouldn't bet on that,' Fort Myers-based real estate broker Ed Bonkowski said. 'I don't think you're going to see that many people as full-time residents living down there. There are no services.'"

"Housing-market analyst Jack McCabe said his firm has seen a statewide drop of sales in condominium towers in 2006. Downtown Fort Myers is no exception, he said. 'There is some concern about the viability of these projects in the future. There just aren't that many people buying.'"

"Meanwhile, downtown's developers are pressing ahead. As more condos come on the market, there's no way to know how many owners will try to sell their units as soon as they're built. Adam Palmer, a commercial real estate agent , said 'the overall perception of the residential market as a whole certainly isn't helping it' with prices and sales down in recent months."

The St Petersburg Times. "As Miles Development finishes one project and fleshes out another, its principals are adapting to St. Petersburg's changing market as they prepare other developments. 'St. Petersburg hasn't been overbuilt,' said COO Ken Doble. 'But it has been overpromised.'"

"The same dynamics that affect individual home buyers are driving Miles' decisions. Sellers think their land is worth more than it is and buyers are waiting for a drop in prices, so nothing happens. 'There's this disconnect,' Doble said. 'People are just sitting there looking at each other.'"

"J. Jason Perry, Miles' VP of development, said Miles is actively shopping for more land downtown but is running into inflated prices. Some owners cling to dreams of instant wealth and tout their own project approvals as though they increase the land's value. Perry said for Miles, it doesn't work that way."

"'The zoning's already flexible here so someone else's approvals aren't an asset,' he said. Miles paid $25 per square foot for 1010 Central's land but now turns down prices of $200 to $300. 'That market came and went.'"

The Herald Tribune. "A massive drop in the number of permits for Southwest Florida home builders is providing the most disturbing evidence yet that Florida's all-important housing industry will face tough times in the year ahead."

"A Herald-Tribune analysis of U.S. Census data shows that home builders only got 426 permits in the unincorporated parts of Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties during October. That is a whopping 66 percent decline from the 1,239 during the same month in 2005."

"The driving force is the tremendous number of homes already built in the region. They were constructed under the apparent notion that the boom of 2004-05 would never stop. It has left Southwest Florida with, by some experts' estimation, an oversupply of perhaps several thousand new homes."

"Looking to take advantage of the sharp rise in real estate prices, investors plunged into the market for new construction, placing orders for homes in the hope that they would be able to resell them at a significant profit after receiving the title."

"Builders themselves contributed to the madness by building 'spec' homes ahead of demand."

"'The problem is that the level of speculative buying was much higher than people were thinking at the time,' said Tom Danahy, the president of LWR Communities. 'It drove volume and prices artificially high.'"

"In the summer of 2005, the bubble burst in Southwest Florida. Speculators started dumping their properties on the market, and inventories of unsold homes began to rise. By November, home builders noticed a slowdown in orders. They responded by dropping prices and stepping up advertisements for discounted product."

"In the meantime, home builders and their suppliers have been cutting staff and expenses. 'If sales are down 50 percent, you can pretty much bet that companies will reduce overhead by something similar,' said Larry Kemick, an Ellenton-based home builder who has cut his staff from 14 to eight people during the past year. 'I know for a fact that other companies in the area are cutting employment significantly.' Suppliers say the same thing."

"Gary Newell, the owner of Central Florida Truss in Bartow, said demand for trusses has fallen so sharply that he has had to cut staff by 60 percent."

"Kemick thinks that the next few months will affect home builders differently. 'A year is a long time. Some people will be just fine. For others, a year will be too long,' he said."

The Palm Beach Post. "Think you can get out of buying a condominium by walking away from your deal? Better think again."

"The developer of two Boca Raton condos has a new tactic for dealing with skittish home buyers with balking on their mind: Sue them to force them to close. At least eight buyers at the Bocar condo and one buyer at the Eden condo have been hit with 'specific performance' lawsuits by entities owned by developer Ceebraid-Signal of West Palm Beach."

"Up until now, the usual remedy for developers with uncooperative buyers was to simply keep their deposits if they failed to close. These lawsuits 'are unusual, but I think we'll see more of these as time goes by,' said Boca Raton attorney Gordon Dieterle, who represents Bocar buyer Vincent Troise."

"Buyers who signed sales contracts months or even years ago have seen their unbuilt properties decline in value in the current condo market slump. That's especially true for these two condo projects, which were completed well past the dates first promised."

"So between the delays and market doldrums, some buyers now say they can't afford to go through with their deals to purchase units. That's the case with attorney Marvin Moss' client, Marie Guillaume. In January, she signed a contract to buy a $379,000 Bocar condo, putting down $37,900 as a deposit. 'The property is worth less than the contract price, and she's willing to forfeit her deposit,' Moss said."

"Developers stuck with unsold inventory are reluctant to let live buyers off the hook. The lawsuits are a message to other Ceebraid buyers thinking of walking away, said attorney Cristofer Bennardo, who represents John Press, the Eden buyer being sued."

"The message got through to at least one Bocar buyer. Troise has decided to close on the Bocar unit rather than spend thousands of dollars fighting the lawsuit in court, said Dieterle, his lawyer. Troise plans to rent the unit for a while and hope for a buyer next year, Dieterle added."