The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "In what could be a sign of things to come in the sluggish housing market, a prominent Tampa condominium project faces 34 lawsuits from buyers trying to back out of their deals. But unlike some pie-in-the-sky deals like Trump Tower Tampa, the Place at Channelside is weeks from completion."

"The problem: Some buyers who paid top dollar in 2004 and 2005 are afraid to take possession of what they fear is a depreciating asset in the housing slump. 'They locked in at the height of the condo boom and the units are not worth what they paid,' said Tampa lawyer Harry Coe, who represents seven buyers."

"Developer Fida Sirdar blamed the suits on a small group of buyers acting in bad faith. 'They will either have to buy or forfeit their deposits. It's as simple as that,' he said."

The News Press. "Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., parent company of Lee County's largest residential builder, reported Friday that it is writing off $8 million worth of sales and land values in Lee County for the second quarter."

"Hovnanian CEO Ara Hovnanian said the $8 million includes two 'bulk sales' of scattered lots in Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres. He didn't give a dollar figure for either deal but said that one of them involved the sale of lots the company now values in the low $20,000s per lot — down from $80,000 at the height of the market. 'The contract price came in slightly below that level.'"

"With the lots priced at today's prices, he said, 'All of a sudden we're back in the environment where we can have affordable housing. I think that's a good indication of what vacant lots in Cape Coral are worth today.'"

"In other comments, Hovnanian said home contract cancellations spiked in March and April after a good month in February."

"A key element to the Naples Bay Resort, a revitalization project in downtown Naples, has been postponed because of the slumping market, developer Jack Antaramian said Friday."

"'There’s just no market,' said Antaramian, noting that all early buyers have had their money returned."

"A class action lawsuit brought by people who bought houses from First Home Builders alleges that they were defrauded by the developer and real estate brokerage D'Alessandro & Woodyard in a program to sell homes as an investment."

"A Fort Lauderdale couple...and others bought 'at least 100 investment properties' and got them financed by preferred lenders through D'Alessandro & Woodyard in a program that called for First Home, now owned by Hovnanian Enterprises, to build the houses and provide a tenant who would defray the investor's mortgage cost with rent. The tenant would eventually buy the house, giving the investor a profit."

"But beyond that, the investors differ with the builder and broker on who was at fault when the deal fell apart in many cases as First Home stopped providing tenants and the homes, when completed, were worth less than the buyer's cost."

"The lawsuit charges that the arrangement amounted to unlicensed securities sales besides being fraudulent and violating the federal Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act."

"Kevin Jursinski, a Fort Myers-based real estate attorney not affiliated with the class action, said the land sales act is increasingly being used. 'So far, so good,' he said. 'We've gotten some deposits back.'"

"Lehigh Acres residents could feel their fire services suffer after preliminary numbers show a nearly 10 percent drop in taxable property value, mirroring a trend of a slowing real estate market throughout Lee County and across the nation."

"'This just proves what people have been saying — the bubble has burst,' Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson said."

The Palm Beach Post. "The developer of Downtown at the Gardens, the shopping-and-dining destination that opened more than a year ago in northern Palm Beach County, has killed its plans for a similar project west of Port St. Lucie."

"When Menin Development Corp. first announced plans for the open-air Main Street Village last August, the company's chief operating officer, Rob Jacoby, cited St. Lucie County's hot housing market as a driving factor."

"Since then, St. Lucie County's housing scene has chilled as investor-owned units have languished on the market."

The Sun Sentinel. "The era of high-flying property values is over. The total value of homes and commercial properties in Palm Beach County grew just 5.2 percent from 2006 to 2007, marking a halt to the five-year bonanza that pushed local government spending to unprecedented levels."

"'The market went down, in real simple terms,' Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits said. 'Those areas that seemed to have a superheated market were the ones who took the biggest hits, because they were overvalued.'"

"Real estate analyst Brad Hunter, of Metrostudy in West Palm Beach, said Friday's figures are the first signs uncovered by government appraisers of the downturn in the real estate market."

"'It kind of reflects moving back to reality,' Hunter said. 'Prices were moving up, residential real estate in particular, at unsustainable rates. Obviously you have to come back down.'"

"'We've not hit rock bottom yet,' Nikolits said. 'We're still in a declining market. I would say next year's numbers are going to be worse.'"

The Herald Tribune. "In what seemed part of a campaign to arm real estate agents against naysayers and fence-sitting buyers, the National Association of Realtors' top economist was in the region offering strong words of encouragement."

"The softness that has bedeviled Southwest Florida's residential real estate market for almost a year has just about run its course and will not last beyond another six to 12 months, said Lawrence Yun. 'For those with a house on the market, there's good news, the worst is over.'"

"The Sarasota market has enjoyed a 150 percent run-up in value in recent years. In the current downward cycle, it has given back about 10 percent to 20 percent of that. 'That's not a crash,' said Yun, especially when compared with what happened to the Nasdaq earlier this decade. 'Now that's a correction.'"

"Yun noted that with median home values in the $300,000 range, the region was not really overpriced compared with other coastal markets such as San Francisco at $700,000 and Washington, D.C., at $400,000."

"The region's housing fundamentals compare very favorably with those of San Diego and Miami, he said. 'One can safely say that there is more accumulation of wealth in Sarasota than there is in the rest of the country,' Yun said."

"Looking long-term, Yun predicted that Florida real estate remains one of the safest bets in the nation. During the next 40 years, Southwest Florida homeowners will enjoy values about 20 times higher than now."

"That would mean a $500,000 home bought today will be worth about $10 million in 2045, or double the national appreciation average, Yun said."