The Tuscaloosa News reports from Alabama. "While 2007 is set to be a big year for condos, it may also mark the beginning of moderation in what has been an explosively growing market since 2004. (Developer) Bill Lunsford said the market has changed significantly since his company began work on Summit Condominiums, a 108-unit complex along Veterans Memorial Parkway, in 2005."

"'The market is not anything like it was when we started that project,' Lunsford said. 'We sold, in one afternoon, 57 units. I don’t think I could do that right now.' That may be because the condo market is approaching saturation."

"A survey of the Tuscaloosa market found that about 1,400 condo units were ready to be occupied, or would be within the following 12 months. 'That seemed to me a very large number for a town this size,' said Leonard Zumpano, professor of finance (at) the University of Alabama."

"The number may be even higher. The Tuscaloosa News found about 32 condominium projects, including apartment complex conversions, on the books at the city planning department, which translates into more than 3,000 units. 'I suspect some of these that have been planned may never be forthcoming,' Zumpano said."

"But there is little risk that the Tuscaloosa market could collapse as did those in San Diego and Miami where rampant speculation pushed prices beyond sustainable levels. 'I don’t think it’s a predominantly speculative market,' Zumpano said."

The News & Observer from North Carolina. "Rising with the help of cranes and soaring values, condominium towers are multiplying like subdivisions in the sky. Condo units in the city's core are expected to increase from about 450 now to nearly 1,000 within two years. By 2011, there could be more than 2,000."

"The rise in condo numbers and prices can go too high. Overbuilding has taken the sizzle out of condo markets in Miami, Las Vegas and elsewhere. 'There's a lot of risk,' said developer Gregg Sandreuter, who is building a new 170-unit condo complex. 'Anybody who says it isn't is just not understanding reality.'"

"Out-of-state investors are queuing up alongside empty nesters and young professionals to buy. But there are signs of caution. Some developers have shelved plans. Others have abandoned them."

"'I felt it was a lot less risky than if I bought it 10 years ago,' said Scott Scherer, a Los Angeles resident who recently paid more than $320,000 for a condo in the partially built Palladium Plaza. 'I wonder sometimes, 'Is this puppy going to appreciate at all, or is it going to be flat?' he said."

"Investors will have to be careful, said Bernard Helm, president of Market Opportunity Research Enterprises. 'For those who are building condos because they hear the market for condos is hot, there are going to be empty pockets,' he said."

The Guardian reports on Florida. "Agents admit holiday home prices in the sunshine state are down 10-15 per cent from early 2006 but many vendors say the fall is over 20 per cent. This is despite Florida being insulated from much of the US housing bubble, as 30 per cent of sales in some areas are to foreigners, a third of them British, says the National Association of Realtors umbrella group."

"'I don't know why investors buy in Florida. The properties aren't high quality in the main, there's little to do in the winter and prices are falling,' says Rupert Lee-Browne of Caxton FX. 'There has to be a compelling reason for Britons buying in Florida given the precariousness of its property market,' says Lee-Browne. 'But there isn't one.'"

The New York Times. "Until now, deep-pocketed Wall Street tycoons and foreign investors benefiting from a weak dollar seemed to be holding up the luxury real estate market even as the low-end fractured. But there are signs that some high-end real estate developers are also being hit by the slowdown."

"Last night, a condo-hotel developer who was a partner with celebrities in selling luxury perches from Miami to Chicago let the mortgage on the Royal Palm Hotel in South Beach, a trendy section of Miami Beach, expire."

"'This is the first of what will probably be several high-end developers who had a number of luxury projects,' consultant Jack McCabe said. 'We’re going to see some where the banks take them back. We’re also going to see a lot of litigation.'"

"'The financing was based on a successful condo-hotel conversion,' said Larry Kay, for Standard & Poor’s. 'My understanding is that the conversion or renovation is moving forward. But there have not been units sold to date.'"

The Palm Beach Daily News. "Developer Jim Engel of Palm Beach...started sales for Central Park Plaza, two blocks west of the Intracoastal Waterway. Pre-construction prices range from the upper $200,000s to $1.5 million, and Engel needs to sell 40 percent to begin building."

"'To be sold out in six weeks ... that's history. But shortly, people will realize that now is the time to be in the driver's seat,' he said. His timing trails that of planned condos that aren't going forward. But Engel's team is intent on offering new luxury units at a time when some developers can't."

"'We took a gamble, but Donald Trump and Jorge Perez, the two geniuses, announced Trump Tower Palm Beach a week after' American Heritage introduced Central Park Plaza, Engel said. 'Either we're all dumb, or we have insight.'"

"After tracking the downtown market for 18 months, Palm Beach broker Pamela Hoffpauer, concluded, 'West Palm Beach is not overbuilt, it's undersold. People are evaluating more carefully,' she said. 'There are only 700 completed and unsold units in our market.'"

"Palm Beach broker John Pinson, past president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, disagreed. The city has a glut of completed units and new units up for resale, and some buyers 'are forced to close or lose deposits,' Pinson said. At the same time, 'owners are willing to rent for extremely low prices just to stop the bleeding.'"

"A few weeks ago, renters could choose from among 220 two-bedroom units in downtown buildings that sold for up to $500,000 per unit, Pinson said. Tenants can get into a full-service, amenity-rich building for $1,100 to $1,450 a month, 'so why buy when you can rent cheap and wait for foreclosures?'"

"Pinson predicted the market will improve, but possibly not until after the 2008 election. 'The absorption of excess inventory will take some time to work out, maybe years,' he said."

The News Press. "It’s a little easier for someone in Lee County’s work force to buy a house these days. Prices have come down dramatically in the past year after a long runup. The median price of a single-family-home resale, for example, reached as much as $322,300 but had fallen by 17.2 percent to $266,900 in January."

"Still, it’s not easy to lure people in jobs such as teachers, firefighters, police officers and nurses to this area. 'The minute they start looking at housing, they get cold feet,' said Tim Ficker, VP of operations for the Shell Point Retirement Community near Sanibel."

"Real estate broker Denny Grimes, of Denny Grimes & Co., follows residential prices for The News-Press Market Watch annual real estate symposium. Grimes said good buys with new homes are available for as little as $150,000 in Lehigh Acres since prices came down."

"'I just listed a brand-new house on a freshwater canal in Cape Coral for $255,000.' At the height of the housing market in 2005, he said, 'freshwater lots alone were $170,000.'"

"With land prices so low, he said, people looking to buy should still consider building their own new house, said Jim Morrissette, president of Troy Development in Fort Myers. He said lots in Lehigh that would have cost $50,000 in 2005 go for as little as $16,000 today."