The Sun News reports from South Carolina. "Condo sales plunged 30 percent last year, sparked by the departure of short-term investors and skyrocketing homeowners insurance rates. Condo sales fell from 9,222 to 6,453, according to the MLS for Horry and Georgetown counties - which captures about 80 percent of the area's listings."

"Tremendous price appreciation in 2004 and 2005 cut some buyers out of the market in 2006 and hurt rental investors who found they couldn't cover their mortgage payments with rental income. As homes flooded the market and prices slowed down in early summer, house flippers started to back out."

"Skyrocketing insurance premiums added to the slowdown with condominium associations seeing increases as high as seven times the amount they were paying. Many condo owners on fixed incomes were forced to sell. Inventory ballooned, growing 61 percent for homes over 2005 and 26 percent for condos."

"Today, there are 8,654 condos on the market. (It) will take a year to clear out if the MLS got no more listings, said Tom Maeser, president of the Fortune Academy of Real Estate. 'The rental investors are not buying anymore. We are waiting for more permanent second home investors,' Maeser said."

"One sign that the investor has left the market is in the drop in cash transactions. This year, cash transactions made up only 15 percent of overall transactions in the MLS. The percentage has never been that low, at least not since statistics started being recorded in 1994. Maeser said flippers often pay with cash as they buy and sell properties, and the drop shows they're gone."

"'The rental income investor has been lost and the [flipper] has been lost. It's the retirees that will keep our market going,' economist Al Parish at Charleston Southern University said."

"Real estate broker Dale Johnson Dale Johnson in Myrtle Beach added that the lack of buyers tells him that now is a good time to buy resort property or a second home. He says he's seen sellers finally giving in to prices much lower than listed price. 'I think you'll continue to see prices drop on condos,' Johnson said."

The Miami Herald from Florida. "Realtor Richard Barkett's reaction to 2006? 'Thank God it's over!' said the CEO of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale, adding it was the year that brought the industry 'back to reality.'"

"Others believe that the rate of owners cashing out of their homes will finally slow this year, dragging down consumer spending. It all means that South Florida's economic juggernaut is finally slowing down. That's already been the case for restaurant owner Catherine Malcolm."

"'People were more conservative with spending,' said Malcolm about her business."

"Construction jobs have taken the most direct hit. Palm Beach County home builder DiVosta Building plans to lay off half of its 552 workers next month."

"Cement maker Titan America has seen a 20 percent drop in its concrete block business alone, which is almost solely for residential building. At full tilt last year its Pennsuco plant in Medley was running three shifts to keep up with demand. In the fourth quarter, it cut back to just one shift at the block plant."

"'Obviously, construction is in a pretty significant slowdown,' said Florida division president Hardy Johnson."

"It's too soon to pronounce a controversial mega-development in Florida City dead, but the landowner is preparing to pull the plug with two key proposals. Atlantic Civil has filed zoning and permit applications in the last few weeks to build fewer than 200 homes on the property adjacent to the Everglades where it had proposed up to 6,000 homes."

"'There's a lot of time and money invested . . . and we are going to continue to move it forward,' John Shubin, an attorney for Atlantic Civil said."

"But with significant political and regulatory hurdles and a tanking housing market, any going appears increasingly difficult for a project that has been a lightning rod in Miami-Dade's debate over whether to open new land to development."

"Shubin said Atlantic Civil was considering a bigger quarry with a limited number of homes if it obtained permits. The proposals raised one obvious question: Lennar Homes, which has an option to buy the land and was proposing to build the Commons project, has been renegotiating or dropping projects to deal with the weakening nationwide housing market."

The Sun Herald from Florida. "Imagine hiring a dozen crews to build at least two dozen homes and then running out of money before you can pay them for their services, and you can imagine the mess that Construction Compliance Inc. faces."

"The company, which has some 90 active building permits in Charlotte County, has apparently been placed in financial limbo after many of its subcontractors, who claim they haven't been paid for some $1 million in work, filed liens against the homebuyers."

"At least one bank involved in financing CCI's home construction projects has ceased releasing cash advances on the work on at least one of the homes. Meanwhile, work appears to be slowing to a standstill on many of CCI's unfinished homes located in Rotonda Sands."

"'I'm literally in the dark,' said CCI subcontractor Joel Deriso. 'I know that I'm being cheated out of a lot of money. I know that there are a lot of people like me. We are fighting battles separately, but we are losing the war,' he said."

"Homebuyers, however, may wind up being the ones to pay the price. Under Florida law, subcontractors can file liens against the properties where they performed work for a general contractor. The liens give the subcontractors the right to force the property into foreclosure after one year if they don't receive payment."

"Jodfer Land Service, which provided land clearing and fill dirt for some 64 houses, has filed liens totaling more than $300,000. Kimal Lumber supplied $182,000 worth of building materials at 29 homes."

"Beckman Concrete and Masonry filed some two-dozen liens totaling some $220,000. Residential Drywall also filed a dozen liens totaling some $98,000. And Miller Brothers Contractin, filed a dozen liens totaling more than $90,000."

"'It's a sad situation,' said Gary Reger, manager of Seacoast Supply, which has liens against properties in CCI deals. 'We're kind of setting there holding the bag, too.'"