The Daily News reports from Florida. "We hear it every day. Northwest Florida’s housing market is stabilizing, returning to normal, slowing to a more reasonable pace. But what does that really mean? Especially for folks whose 'For Sale' signs have started to grow moss?"

"'If you want to sell your house, you have to lower your price,' said broker Richard Bell."

"According to data from the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors, in the fourth quarter of 2006 it would have taken 19.3 months to sell the entire single-family home inventory in the area. It would have taken 54 months to sell all of the condos on the market."

"'There are a lot of people who are just walking away,' Realtor Ray DiTirro said. 'They do their cash-flow analysis and they say, 'It’ll cost me less to walk away than to carry this condo.'"

The News Press. "Land is being cleared for a project that will bring 168 homes to San Carlos Park, but it could be a while before the homes are actually built."

"Real estate agent Joe Batten said it might be difficult for them to drum up sales in the area. Most builders have halted projects in response to a weak housing market. 'The inventory can't compete with the resales,' he said."

"Batten said Breckenridge is an example of condominiums that aren't selling well, in spite of their location. 'Stuff isn't easy to sell in there,' he said. 'Everything's dropped.'"

"Builders in unincorporated Lee County, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers Beach pulled 318 permits for single-family houses in March, 62 percent less than in March 2006, the county Department of Community Development reported."

"'We’re looking at the budget to figure out how much staffing we’ll need for next year. We’re going to monitor it and then see if it bottoms out and see if we can delete some positions,' said Mary Gibbs, head of community development."

"Right now, she said, 'We’re at beginning of 2003 levels.'"

"Michael Reitmann, executive VP of the Lee Building Industry Association, said the flat permitting numbers aren’t surprising in light of recent layoffs by local builders. Underlying the lower numbers, he said, is the huge inventory of homes for sale."

The St Petersburg Times. "In a part of the county where new developments used to be a dime-a-dozen, another megaproject has now left the scene. Crosswinds Florida will no longer build 500 homes proposed on 280 acres in southeast Dade City."

"Dade City officials also confirmed that Crosswinds had canceled its contract to purchase the 280 acres from the Larkin family. Reached by telephone, Jon Larkin II said he had no comment and hung up."

"Across the Tampa Bay area, only one in 20 homes is now finding buyers within a month. Two years ago, half of all homes found buyers in a comparable period."

"Centex Homes last week slashed half its 300-person work force in Naples. 'The housing market's conditions are not as favorable as they have been,' said Ken Smalling, Centex's spokesman."

The Orlando Sentinel. "HSBC Mortgage Services plans to shutter its collections call center in Orlando and eliminate nearly 110 jobs locally, the company said this week. HSBC is the nation's 10th largest player in the subprime mortgage industry."

The Herald Tribune. "Foreclosures in Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties have doubled in the last year. The total foreclosures in process, 2,221 this year, compared with 1,106 at this time in 2006, is the clearest symptom to date of Southwest Florida's painful hangover from the bubbly days of a heady housing market."

"'I would not be surprised to see it double again a year from now,' says Mark Zandi, chief economist for big Wall Street credit rating giant Moodys.com."

"Of the 2,221 foreclosures in process right now in the three-county region, 317 are in North Port and 402 are in Port Charlotte. Not coincidentally, those communities were a favored playing ground during the boom for investors. It also was the center of activity for a series of failed home builders."

"As the three-year-long real estate boom wound down, mortgage lenders such as New Century Financial Corp. came up with a bad idea: Instead of tightening lending criteria as the markets became less liquid, they loosened them in order to keep the party rolling."

"Those decisions are now coming home to roost across the nation. 'Not only are we going to see massive foreclosures in the market, but as you can see, the subprime lenders are falling out like flies,' said Priscilla Gratton, a 20-year Sarasota mortgage banking veteran. 'There are so many mortgage originators out there whose only goal was closing a transaction.'"

"During the past 10 years, New Century underwrote as many as 4,000 loans locally, property records show."

The Citrus County Chronicle. "A real estate market that boomed in 2004 and 2005, but began to bottom out in 2006, has left a residual effect, hitting homeowners and lending institutions right between the eyes."

"Mortgage foreclosure filings are much higher than a year ago as people who received home loans during the good times find they cannot make payments after times went bad. Records with the Citrus County Clerk of Court’s office show foreclosure cases had remained steady through much of 2006, but began increasing in October."

"January 2007 alone saw 90 mortgage foreclosure filings, compared to 23 in the same month a year ago."

"'The trend is increasing,' said Jack Reynolds, senior VP at the Homosassa Springs Bank. 'With what the economy has done, real estate taxes up significantly, insurances increases up significantly, people can’t afford their mortgage payments.'"

"'You have seen some of those borrowers barely able to qualify coming into a position, whether because they have adjustable mortgage rates going up or other reasons, unable to afford the payments,' he said."

"Another subtler trend has developed in recent months. Of those foreclosures going to public auction, fewer are being bought by outside bidders, meaning lenders are getting the property back themselves."

"For example, of the eight sales in January 2006, all but one was bought by outside bidders, often land investors. In 11 sales last January, outside bidders landed just three properties."

"And this: Of 10 sales in March, all 10 returned to the lender, according to county records."

"'That doesn’t surprise me at all,' Reynolds said. 'It’s just another sign of the market. Folks expect to make a profit on the sale. You saw properties that turned every three months. That isn’t the case now. Those investors aren’t in that market now.'"