TC Palm reports from Florida. "The number Treasure Coast residents falling behind on their monthly house payments has soared in the past year. According to Realestat.com, St. Lucie County had 151 property owners with late payments in March, up from 52 a year earlier. Martin County's late payments climbed to 37, up from the seven recorded in March 2006."

"'Who knows how bad it's going to get,' said Richard French, president of the Broward County chapter of the Mortgage Bankers Association. 'It's a little scary to think about.'"

"Escalating home values from 2000 to 2005 caused buyers to overextend themselves. Many took out short-term, adjustable-rate mortgages and are seeing their loan payments spike as interest rates rise."

"'I would also fault the people that bought second homes and didn't need them,' said Brad Hunter, director of West Palm Beach-based Metrostudy. 'Some people bought with the thought of wanting to make a killing and flip the house for $100,000. Now they realize they aren't going to sell for a profit.'"

"Don Santos, past president of the Treasure Coast Builders Association, said the situation is due to the poor lending decisions of the subprime market and local people losing jobs in the construction industry. 'It just created this perfect storm that we're in now,' Santos said."

"'We saw a 321 percent increase in foreclosures when you compare this versus last year,' said Merle Dimbath, Treasure Coast economist in Stuart."

"Dimbath's percentage included Palm Beach and Brevard counties which had 1,207 combined foreclosures started last month. 'That is not a pretty picture...I think it's going to take the rest of this year and into the next year to run its course,' he said."

"Bill Fruth, president of an economic consulting firm based in Palm City, predicts 2007 will be a 'bloody' year for foreclosures."

"'This isn't the end of it and it's going to go on for a couple of more years,' Fruth said. 'During the last half of 2005, people paid extremely inflated prices for their homes and now they owe more than what the home is worth.'"

The Ledger. "A glut of new home inventory continues to bog down Polk County's real estate market. Last month, building permits for single family homes dropped to 393, nearly a 48 percent decrease from 750 in March 2006."

"Following the 2005 housing boom, builders were left with an overabundance of homes. That, coupled with hesitant buyers, has caused the market to slow down, making it a prime time for home buyers, builders say. They can now be more choosy in their choices in homes."

The Miami Herald. "Florida's powerful housing industry is hoping state lawmakers' bid to revise property taxes will inject life into the anemic real estate market."

"Single-family home sales have plunged more than 20 percent over the past year in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, as the number of homes for sale has hit a new high. At the current pace, it would take two years to sell all the single-family houses on the market and nearly three years to sell the condominiums."

"'This is the single biggest issue in the home-building industry right now,' said Silvio Cardoso, president of the South Florida builders' organization. 'Property taxes are strangling the market'"

"Still, many builders reacted coolly to a Senate proposal for rolling back taxes to 2005 levels, since home prices were high then. 'The Senate bill doesn't make any sense at all,' said Cardoso. 'That is the peak of the market.'"

The Bradenton Herald. "The dismal housing picture and low wages are two key reasons the Tampa Bay region, including Manatee and Sarasota counties, is lagging economically in a comparison with other Southeast regions. Those were the results Tuesday from Tampa Bay Partnership's third economic scorecard."

"The region's housing permits dropped 36.6 percent in a year. Job growth also declined by 1 percent, pushing Tampa Bay from first to fourth in that category. 'Clearly, a red flag for the region's economy,' the report said."

"'Tampa Bay ranks last in home affordability because it has the highest home prices and the lowest household income of all the comparison regions,' the report said."

"The housing situation did not surprise broker Nancy Allen, but she said the cost of housing locally is on a downward slide."

"'What we still see is the imbalance is so dramatic between the amount of inventory, homes on the market both resale and new, compared to the amount of buyers, which is miniscule,' she said. 'And so we're living in a buyer's market, but there aren't many buyers there. It's forcing our prices lower because of supply and demand, it's the same reason it went out of control in the other direction.'"

"Tampa Bay home prices were 25 percent higher than those in Raleigh-Durham, 46 percent higher than Atlanta's and 68 percent higher than Dallas', the report said. However, the household income here is less than the other regions, it noted."

"'It's starting to be a drag on the whole economy,' said Larry Henson, for the Tampa Bay Partnership."