The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "Ballooning tax bills fueled a storm of citizen unrest that now has state leaders searching for a fix. But the root cause of the tax revolt was a record surge in property values over the past few years."

"On both sides of the bay, however, there are signs of a market decline not seen in years, and if the trends continue, owners may see some relief on their tax bills in 2008."

"Joni L. Herndon, a Seminole Heights appraiser, works in both Pinellas and Hillsborough. Herndon said that from December 2005 to March 2006, condos at one Carrollwood location were going for $254, 000. Now, she said, they're at $218, 000."

"In Pinellas during the first three months of last year, the median sale price of a home was $212, 000. In the first three months of this year, the figure dipped to $198, 000."

"'This year you'll see declining values,' Herndon said. 'But the tax relief will probably come later, not this year.'"

"For Pinellas County Property Appraiser Jim Smith, the downturn that has taken hold is the market's returning from orbit to solid ground. 'Now things are starting to get a little bit more real,' Smith said. 'I think prices are coming down to normalcy.'"

The Associated Press. "In Miami, the rush of condo building and speculative buying has slowed to a crawl, said real estate agent Penni Hurley. Florida's foreclosure filings rose 54 percent from a year ago to 14,303 in March, or one filing for every 511 households."

"'The market was on steroids, and now it's going through a much-needed correction,' Hurley said."

The Miami Herald. "Soaring property tax bills are making it increasingly burdensome to buy or keep a second home in Florida, raising questions about the future of a real-estate niche that's long been a mainstay of the state's economy."

"'A few years ago, people wouldn't ask about taxes,' said Carlos Justo, principal of Sol Sotheby's International Realty in Miami. 'Now the tax issue is the single-biggest factor why a lot of transactions don't happen.'"

"Justo said one Venezuelan client who has owned a Miami Beach home for nearly a decade has listed it for sale after growing weary of the escalating property taxes."

"Coldwell Banker, the largest real-estate brokerage firm in Miami-Dade, has tracked a 20 percent drop in second-home purchases in 2006, following a 10 percent decline in 2005."

"'I just lost a sale because of taxes,' says Jennifer Macia, a Realtor who specializes in waterfront properties."

"Spanish clients who plan to spend part of the year in Miami were close to buying a waterfront home on Key Biscayne, she said, but they balked when they saw the $260,000 property tax bill. 'It was a $14 million property, and had it not been for the taxes, I would have had a deal,' Macia said."

"Roughly one-third of the homes in Miami-Dade and about 40 percent of those in Broward aren't covered by the homestead exemption and cap on assessment increases, available only to permanent residents."

"'It's a huge market,' said developer Edgardo Defortuna in Miami. 'Second-home buyers definitely need to be included in any changes in Tallahassee, because they are the ones paying the most. They have been impacted the most by high taxes the last four or five years.'"

"Homer Thompson. a retiree who lives in one Miami home and rents out another in Kendall, says taxes on the nonhome-steaded property, some $8,458 last year, are eating up his investment."

"'I'm trying to hold on to a second home that I lived in before my marriage in 1975, hoping to pass it on to my children,' he said. 'I paid $38,200 for the house, and since 2000, I've paid more in taxes than I paid for the original price of the house.'"

The Star Banner. "While existing-home sales in the Ocala area last month continued to rebound, the number of homes sold was down 33 percent from the same month a year ago when the local real estate market was still red hot."

"Bert Meadows, of Meadows Realty, said the real estate boom of the last couple of years was an anomaly, and said most Realtors would be happy to see sales figures similar to those witnessed in 2003 or 2004."

"'I think it was an unusual time in the market,' he said of the frenzied sales period."

"There's still lots of inventory on the market. Realtor Judy Disney-DiFranco said she's seeing more homes are being listed than are being sold and prices are falling. Buyers have the advantage, she said."

"'It's still a buyer's market,' Disney-DiFranco said. 'It's a good time to make a really good deal.'"