The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. "Foreclosures are putting a damper on an already sluggish housing market in Southwest Florida. The number of foreclosures in the region spiked during May, and Manatee County was fifth among all Florida counties in terms of per-capita foreclosures. 'We all knew it was coming,' said Steve Jonsson, president of Bradenton's Flagship National Bank. 'I'm not sure the housing market can get much worse, quite frankly.'"

"'They aren't doing 95 percent loans like a couple years back,' he said. Several other lenders, including some of the area's largest like SunTrust and Washington Mutual, declined to be interviewed about foreclosures, saying it has negative connotations."

"In Southwest Florida, the foreclosure hot spots remain in North Port and north of the Manatee River, two areas with large swaths of homes and condominiums that attracted investors during the recent housing boom. Another substantial concentration was in Port Charlotte."

"The number of foreclosure actions filed in Manatee County during May rose 164 percent from April. In Sarasota County, foreclosures rose 104 percent, putting it 10th in the the state. Charlotte County foreclosures rose 74 percent, placing it 16th."

"Three other west coast counties, Lee, Hillsborough and Pinellas, were in the top 20 statewide last month."

"'It's not that people are being kicked to the curb and losing their homes,' said Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wachovia Corp. 'It's more similar to the folks who were day trading in dot-com stocks and were losing their money.'"

"Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties saw a sharp spike in the number of landowners failing to pay their property taxes this year, another sign of a sagging real estate market and struggling economy."

"The number of parcels with delinquent taxes soared more than 70 percent in Sarasota County, while Charlotte County saw a 50 percent increase and Manatee County nearly 45 percent. Combined, the three counties had more than $55 million worth of unpaid taxes this year, a record total."

"'All of this is anecdotal symptoms of the sick real estate market we have,' said analyst Jack McCabe."

"The luster is off the large inventory of vacant lots in Charlotte and Sarasota counties, where investors just two or three years ago could not get enough. Those lots appreciated rapidly in value, in some cases jumping 10 or even 20 times in less than five years."

"For example, one lot on Reading Street in Port Charlotte, valued at $2,550 in 2003, changed hands yearly though 2006, when it hit $33,101 in assessed value. It more than doubled in value from 2005 to 2006 alone."

"Its market value has since dropped. Whether speculators bought one lot or many, the prospect of paying this year's taxes, which are based on the higher 2006 values, is not appealing."

"McCabe noted that people are losing far larger sums by abandoning deposits on condos and homes, knowing that they could incur much greater losses if they close on property that has decreased in value."

"'People are walking away from 20 percent deposits on very expensive units, hundreds of thousands of dollars,, McCabe said. 'Speculators in particular are walking away from property and walking away from taxes as well.'"

"George Huhn, a Venice homeowner and real estate broker, is one of the property owners who opted to pay other expenses over his taxes. 'I simply didn't have the cash flow to pay my taxes,' Huhn said. 'My business, quite honestly, is the worst it's ever been in 15 years. It becomes a matter of priorities.'"

"'I think it's definitely a trend,' McCabe said. 'We're headed for some hard times over the next three years because of the extremes of the last three years.'"

From TC Palm. "The numbers don't lie. An independent survey of residential construction issued across the Treasure Coast from January through April showed a staggering drop in building permits, a trend analysts say is reflective of a troubled housing market and slumping buyer demand."

"From January through April, Indian River County residential permits issued dropped 71 percent from the prior year while in Port St. Lucie the number of permits issued dropped 72 percent."

"Residential permits dropped 70 percent in Martin County and 86 percent drop in Fort Pierce."

"This year, payrolls have been trimmed at employers such as Indian River Medical Center, the Indian River County Property Appraiser, Harbor Federal Savings Bank (now National City Bank) and the St. Lucie Building and Zoning Department. DiVosta Building Corp. and KB Homes shut their Treasure Coast divisions."

"Consultant Jack McCabe said condominium builders in Miami have resorted to giving away a two-year luxury vehicle lease to rid themselves of excess inventory. 'Frankly, we are going to see a recession in 2008,' McCabe said. 'The housing boom drove us all into this paper wealth, artificial wealth that drove consumer spending.'"

"McCabe said many homeowners refinanced their homes based on inflated values and the effects of that are about to hit Florida and the rest of the nation."

"'Things are really bad in the Midwest and Northeast,' he said. 'All those Baby Boomers we thought would move to Florida, well it maybe very troublesome for them to leave.'"

"Fran Love, owner of the Clubhouse Bar & Grill in Vero Beach said because business has dropped 25 percent since last year, she's had to make some drastic decisions. 'We don't open for lunch anymore, we open a 3 p.m.' Love said. 'It's like a snowball effect, everyone feels like there's a noose tied around your neck.'"

"John and Regina Barczykowski, owners of Allen's Diner in Fort Pierce, says business has been unpredictable since the housing market started to slide. 'We're all feeling the affects of the housing market,' John Barczykowski said. 'Everyone is tightening their belts.'"

"Rich Barker, a broker of SUVs, motor homes, trucks and imports in Fort Pierce is one who describes current sales as terrible, in part because of the softening housing market and because of higher gas prices."

"'It's not just me feeling this, everyone down the street is feeling it,' Barker said. 'It's a new reality that no one wants to talk about because everyone wants the public to feel secure and happy so they'll spend more.'"

"Bill Wallace, owner of Wallace Automotive Group, said the company is down 20 percent for the first four months versus 2006."

"'I would attribute about 90 percent of that to the housing crisis,' Wallace said. 'Anybody that depends on the residential real estate market for a living isn't doing as well as they were a few years ago.'"

The Bradenton Herald. "Although he moved to Parrish almost two years ago, real estate investor Mark Snider won't be buying properties in Manatee County any time soon. Like many other investors, Snider hoped that the property-tax reform would help in the recovery of the local real estate market."

"'It's a miserable failure. They haven't done it,' Snider said about the reforms."

"Snider was one of about 40 people who turned out Friday to hear Sen. Mike Bennett speak to the Bradenton Real Estate Club, making it the best-attended meeting in the club's history. 'Local government has shut down the No. 1 industry in the state of Florida, and the No. 1 industry isn't tourism, it's growth,' Bennett said."

"'It's been a big disappointment to me,' said attorney John Wickman. 'It's put a chilling effect on people. Couple that with a 22-month straight-down real estate market.'"

"Potential buyers had been in a holding pattern, waiting to hear what legislators would propose in their regular and special sessions, which just ended. But now real estate professionals like broker Marie Avery feel like the plan may have done more harm than good. 'People are just going to leave the state,' Avery said."

"Bennett says they already are. 'For the first time since 1953, people left the state of Florida with more frequency than they came last year,' Bennett said."

The Atlanta Journal Constitution. "When Warren Lambert's insurance company canceled his homeowner's policy, it was the last straw."

"Even though he had never filed a claim despite a punishing year of hurricanes in 2004 and had absorbed a 40 percent rise in his insurance premium, Lambert was among thousands of Florida homeowners left in the lurch by retreating insurers."

"Lambert is among a wave of transplants migrating to metro Atlanta from coastal communities, driven by soaring insurance premiums, devastating weather and a volatile real estate market that has priced much coastal housing beyond the reach of average workers."

"Leslie Johnson, vice president for business development at Coldwell Banker The Condo Store, said recent research about the Midtown market shows that 33 percent of all the buyers there over age 55 are moving from Florida."

"'I think there will be more when those people in Florida can sell their houses,' Johnson said."

"For a growing enclave of Florida transplants in Henry County, those costs combined with a growing market of attractive salaries made moving to metro Atlanta a no-brainer. Miami teacher Nannette Bradley said the annual $3,000 insurance cost for her three-bedroom, two-bath townhouse was straining her public-servant salary to the breaking point. 'The bills were piling on,' Bradley said. 'You couldn't see the end to anything.'"

"In January, she visited friends already living in the Hampton area and found a lot to love about the area, including higher teacher salaries. With a job secured, she will close on a new home this month. The new five-bedroom, four-bath house in a Hampton subdivision was the same price as her Miami townhome."

"'In Miami, that house would have been at least $600,000,' Bradley said."