The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "Squeezed by rising property taxes and homeowners insurance rates, and frustrated by crowded roads and schools, increasing numbers of residents are moving from Florida. Evidence is mounting that the migration boom it experienced in the first half of the decade is over. Many housing analysts say these are signs not of a long-term population shift but of the slumping real estate market."

"'It's temporary,' said Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wachovia Corp. 'Housing prices will correct. We need a couple of years with no hurricanes to right the ship.'"

"Growth has been so strong for so long in Florida that even wondering about it is momentous, said Gary Mormino, professor of Florida studies at the University of South Florida. 'This is the first time since the recession of the 1970s when real question marks appear about the future of Florida,' he said."

"About 90 percent of the state's population growth since 1950 has stemmed from migration, said Stanley Smith, director of the state Bureau of Economic and Business Research. This stream of net immigration has clearly dwindled since statewide sales of existing homes peaked two years ago this month."

"Most of South Florida, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties- has seen declines in numbers of public school students and licensed drivers in the past year. So has Pinellas County, which lost 2,265 students last school year and 7,601 drivers in 2006."

"'The population surveys we're getting from government agencies are not anywhere near what's happening in real life,' said (Consultant) Jack McCabe, who said the state, and certainly its most crowded and expensive counties, may be losing more migrants than it is gaining."

"'It's anecdotal evidence but it's a preponderance of evidence. The idea of 1, 000 people per day moving to Florida is an absolute myth at this point,' McCabe said."

"'In the past, Florida was a low-tax, low-cost, low-wage state,' said Bennett, 'but increasingly it is just a low-wage state and that's a serious concern.'"

"Meanwhile, Florida's housing market 'underwent a large sales slump last year,' said Lawrence Yun, an economist with the National Association of Realtors."

"An agent for Atlas Van Lines moved more people out of the state than in for the first time in memory last year, said Bob Glenn, general manager. Many more out-of-state moves have been delayed by the sluggish housing market, he said."

"'We've got people who have been on the active list (to move) going back to September and they still haven't been able to sell,' he said. 'People are almost being held hostage by their homes.'"

"The state's housing prices were overinflated by speculation during the boom, said Vitner, the Wachovia economist. Even with recent declines in Florida prices, the median-priced home in South Florida costs more than twice as much as one in Atlanta, according to the NAR."

"If housing prices continue to fall and lawmakers can reduce taxes and control insurance rates, the thinking goes, Florida will resume attracting Northerners, including a large share of the 77-million baby boomer retirees."

From Florida Today. "Several homeowners asked where all the money from skyrocketing home values has gone in the past three years, adding that cities and counties should have utilized better budgeting."

"Retiree Ron Chambers said local governmental agencies should have planned better during the real estate boom that saw home values, and property taxes, launch like a space shuttle."

"'Anybody could see that it was a bubble,' Chambers said. 'They should've paid off financial debt rather than use it on services. Now if you're going to make a cut, you darn sure better do that wisely.'"

"Michael McNamara is a real estate broker who owns several investment properties. He said the last assessment on one of his properties was $386,000, up from $209,000. That drastically increased his tax bill on that property last year."

"'I thought it was pathetic,' he said about the (property tax) proposal in the state Legislature. 'I just don't understand it. They're talking about rolling back to the year that caused all the trouble. They need to roll back to at least three years ago.'" "Retiree Jerome Barry would like to sell his 1954 Loveridge Heights home, worth about $200,000, and buy something beachside for about $400,000. But he knows his $1,351 tax bill would more than triple."

"'It puts me out of the market,' he said, adding that many people are in the same situation. 'It's a stalemate.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "Karl Mooney recently wrapped up a nine-day training session with Signature GMAC Realty in Orlando, to become a sales agent. 'Some people might question our sanity,' said Mooney, a longtime educator. But Mooney said real estate still offers opportunities, and he figures that, with the market slower, 'it's a good time to get in and learn the business.'"

"Membership in the Orlando Regional Realtor Association has fallen from a peak of 12,400 last December to 11,970, reflecting the recent slowdown in housing sales. The 3.5 percent membership drop is less than the trade group had anticipated, but Randy Martin, president of the Orlando Association, said he still expects the group's membership to dwindle further this year."

"'The business is just not out there. Some people haven't had a closing in a year,' said Martin, an agent in Winter Park."

"One indicator shows that the pipeline for future Realtors is shrinking: Real-estate classes are attracting fewer students. 'The numbers are definitely down at all of the larger schools around the state,' said Dick Fryer, founder of the largest private real-estate school in the Orlando area."

"'We're all seeing about a 40 percent reduction,' Fryer said, and 'it has to translate to lower membership [for Realtor associations] down the line.'"

"The National Association of Realtors' membership survey showed that, for newcomers in the field, the pickings are slim as they compete with veterans. Realtors in the business for two years or less earned a median of $15,300 last year; those with at least 16 years of experience earned $76,200."

The Times Union reports on Georgia. "Just a year or two ago, many people were in a frenzy to buy their first homes or move up into a new one as mortgage companies pushed low 'teaser' interest rates, and all the packing up and moving was good for business owners."

"But as the market has pulled back with foreclosures rising and property values stagnating, Georgia companies from construction supply stores to Realtors to homebuilders also have seen their sales slow down."

"Moving companies have weathered the same concerns. 'It was a horrible winter, and a lot of moving companies went out of business,' said Eric De Weerd, owner of All My Sons Moving and Storage of Savannah. 'With the drop down that we had in home sales and interest rates going up, essentially what it did was cause less people to move than normal.'"

"Erik Christensen, president of Atlanta-based Bulldog Movers, estimates that business is off about 20 percent compared with the same period last year. The housing slowdown is a major reason."

"Economists say that Georgia's housing market missed the brunt of the bubble burst because selling prices never got as overinflated as in some other parts of the country. So home values in the state have remained fairly stable, even though selling activity has dropped off substantially, said Jeff Humphreys, at the University of Georgia."

"'The people who derive their income, businesses that derive their profits from [home sales], they're feeling the pain right now,' Humphreys said." "People seemed to be holding off. It was across the country. It wasn't just Georgia,' said De Weerd."