The Tampa Bay Business Journal reports from Florida. "In first quarter 2007, Florida's housing sector continued to mirror the national pattern, with higher inventory levels of homes for sale, median prices edging down and soft sales reflecting a buyer's market in many areas. In Tampa Bay, sales dropped 37 percent from the first quarter last year, while the average price of homes fell 2 percent, to $212,200 from $217,300."

"Homeowners have given up all of the gains achieved in 2006 and are now falling back to the fall of 2005 for comparable prices."

The St Petersburg Times. "More downbeat news from the Tampa Bay area housing market. The messenger is the Florida Association of Realtors. Condos go for $171,900 this year vs. $177,800 last year. A glut on the market, 40, 000 homes and counting, could suppress prices further."

"Tampa Bay area home sales are sluggish, but one type of property is turning over faster than it has in years: realty offices." "With half as many homes selling this year as during the boom in 2005, Realtors are closing, selling or consolidating their physical property."

"Thanks in part to high property taxes on second and vacation homes, beachfront property has taken a pounding, and so have Realtors on the coast. One of the most successful, Sand Key Realty Sales and Rental, closed one of its three offices, the one in Indian Rocks Beach."

"'To maximize profits, you have to cut some of your losses,' owner Jim Robbins said. 'We're still doing $6-million to $7-million in sales a month. It's just not the $15-million we used to do.'"

"The culprit is home sales that have plunged from their record-setting peaks of 2005. In Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties, Realtors sold 2, 488 houses and condominiums last month. That compares with 4,998 sales in April 2005 and 3,783 last April."

The Palm Beach Post. "The number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages nearly quadrupled in St. Lucie County last month compared with a year ago, RealtyTrac said Tuesday. Florida had the second-highest number of filings in the nation with a total of 14,318 households entering some stage of foreclosure last month."

"'I know that banks are pleading to take properties off their hands even before they get to their REO (real-estate-owned) department,' said Delray Beach luxury homebuilder Frank McKinney. 'Twenty years ago, we sat on the courthouse steps and bid on properties and bought them.'"

"That's no longer happening, McKinney said, 'which shows me this huge flood of foreclosures will continue to hit South Florida well into next year.'"

"Depreciating home prices make it hard for owners facing foreclosure to sell their houses for what they owe, while tighter lending standards make it hard for potential buyers to qualify for a loan."

"In Palm Beach County, the median price of an existing home fell 4 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2006, the Florida Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Sales dropped 20 percent, a troubling double-digit decline in what many had hoped would be a successful spring selling season."

"'Walk into any...Best Buy or Circuit City and ask them about sales of big-screen TVs and computers,' said Mike Morgan, broker in Stuart. 'Boats, cars, clothing, jewelry and more,' he said, ticking off big-ticket items that debt-plagued homeowners can no longer afford."

"'The housing ATM is out of money,' he said."

The Herald Tribune. "(Sarasota County) will lay off 26 workers in its building department today because of a declining real estate market and expectations that state lawmakers will soon cut local tax revenues."

"The layoffs are 'a precursor of the type of things to come,' according to County Administrator Jim Ley, who last month announced a 'soft' hiring freeze and temporarily halted plans to expand the county's fire department and public transportation service."

"County officials say the building department layoffs are tied more to the real estate slowdown than to expected cuts in local property taxes. The county left open the likelihood of more layoffs."

"Manatee County's building department is financed by builder fees, which have declined significantly, said County Administrator Ed Hunzeker. The same goes for Charlotte County. The number of building permits issued by Sarasota County was down 65 percent during the first three months of the year."

"A trio of reports on Tuesday showed that the future of Southwest Florida's real estate market remains murky even among signs that it is outperforming most of the Sunshine State."

"During the first three months of 2007, the area posted a 6 percent rise in sales compared with the year-ago period, the state's only market in positive territory."

"Its median sales price, however, dropped 12 percent to $290,500. That was the state's biggest percentage decline aside from Charlotte County-North Port, which saw a 13 percent drop to $197,300. Sales there declined 16 percent."

"Sarasota County's foreclosure rate is double what it was a year ago and was 54 percent higher in April. Manatee County had 222 new foreclosures, up 34.5 percent from March."

The Bradenton Herald. "The Bradenton-Sarasota housing market was the only one in Florida to experience an increase in sales in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same quarter last year."

"In contrast, sales in neighboring markets like Fort Myers (were) down 35 percent; and Naples was down 30 percent. Statewide, sales were down 26 percent."

"'It's all relative because our sales were so dismal, the only direction they could go was up,' said Dan Forbes, broker in Bradenton."

"Re/Max Gulfstream's Ken Miller was a little leery about calling Tuesday's figures the first step toward full recovery. 'No one can speak from experience about where we are now, but I don't think you're going to see any big change until mid-2008,' Miller said."

"He agreed the increase in sales was a good thing but says coming off an unprecedented boom makes it even more difficult than usual to predict the path the market will take."

"Those looking to buy a home under $200,000 have a chance now that was unheard of just a year ago, said May Aston, president of the Manatee Association of Realtors. 'There are quite a few decent homes under $200,000. Last year, if someone were to ask me for a home under $200,000, I couldn't have found one,' Aston said."

"Those who are buying are looking for deals, experts said. 'For the true, seasoned investor, it doesn't matter if it's a buyer or seller's market, they are looking,' Forbes said."

"And what are they looking for? 'Steep discounts,' Forbes said."

"Miller agreed. He finds that buyers and sellers are at a standoff, with buyers expecting sellers to cut prices tremendously and sellers expecting to get unrealistic amounts of money in the current market situation."

"During the height of the real estate boom, there was only a 1.7-month supply of homes on the market, but as speculators and other sellers scurried to get out of their homes, that number skyrocketed to more than a 10-month supply."

"'If the home was purchased before 2004, they are a little more realistic when it comes to listing price,' Miller said."