Bloomberg reports on Florida. "Listings in the Orlando, Florida, area show 26,300 homes for sale, a 20-month supply, said Gary Balanoff, a real estate broker in Oviedo, Florida. 'I've been in business 23 years, and I've never seen some of the price reductions we have here,' Balanoff said. 'It's painful for people.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "Orlando-based brokerage IDX Realty will auction off an estimated $100 million in property early next month in one of the largest local auctions of its kind in the slumping real estate sales market."

"IDX broker Christopher Sampson said he has lined up sellers from Florida and four other states who want to unload their properties fast in a mega-sized, one-day sale."

"Sampson said there have been lots of real estate auctions in the past and more announced every day because of the anemic sales environment, 'but very few, if any, to this degree and magnitude involving so many properties at one time.'"

"The properties for sale run from vacant land and commercial buildings to multimillion-dollar estate homes."

The Beacon. "Property owners in DeBary Golf & Country Club are using a new tool to speed up home sales in Volusia County's slowed-down market. The tool is the auctioneer's gavel."

"Twenty luxury townhomes and two houses in the prime DeBary community will be sold to the highest bidders Thursday, Sept. 27, in an 'absolute auction.' Whatever the bid, no matter how low, each of the properties will be sold to the highest bidder."

"Auctions are a growing trend in the real-estate market, as home prices continue to plunge and builders and developers become pressed to reduce excess inventory, said William Bone, whose company has been auctioning properties for over 30 years."

The Miami Herald. "In another sign of the deteriorating housing market, South Florida builder Levitt Corp. said Tuesday it was cutting 200 jobs, more than a third of its workforce, and that it was suspending further lot development."

"Fort Lauderdale-based Levitt also said in a regulatory filing that it was in discussions with its lender to amend terms of its loan agreements, including modifying the timing and amount of some of its payments."

"'The home building market in Florida just continues to deteriorate,' Levitt CE Alan Levan told The Miami Herald., 'We wouldn't do it except for the fact that the economic reports suggest that this situation is going to last for sometime, possibly through 2009, 2010,' Levan said."

"Levan said the company had reduced prices and offered incentives, but it still wasn't 'attracting the level of buyers that create a sustainable model for some of these communities.'"

"'This is the worst market that we've experienced in 25 years in home building,' he said."

The Sun Sentinel. "The decision to make the cuts was 'gut-wrenching' but necessary, said Levan, who also runs BankAtlantic Bancorp. Prices that some Levitt homes are selling for are 'un-economic and below cost.'"

"Levitt and Sons will suspend lot development. It has reported more than $90 million in losses from decreases in the values of land and inventory during the past 18 months."

"Levitt and Sons has built more than 200,000 homes throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Europe since 1929. 'Even the guys that have been mainstays aren't immune to what's been happening in the market,' said David Levin, a Delray Beach-based housing analyst."

From NBC 6. "Mortgage fraud is a growing problem in South Florida. The crime can cause you to lose money by affecting the price of your home and your property taxes."

"Pete, whose identity NBC 6 is concealing, wanted $250,000 to sell his South Florida condo but he got a better offer. 'I got a call from real estate agent who told me that he has a contract, an offer for $350,000,' Pete said."

'"I asked him, 'If I'm asking 250 and they offer 350, there's got to be a catch.'" "Pete's hunch was right. The buyer wanted $100,000 back at closing."

"Pete said he was told the extra $100,000 was going to be used to renovate the condo, but he had already updated it. He contacted the Miami-Dade Police Department. 'If the lender knew that money was going back to the purchaser, they would never do the loan,' said Sgt. Richard Davis of Miami-Dade police."

"Realtors said the fraud happens in unlikely places -- neighborhoods in Coral Gables, Pinecrest, and pricey Gables by the Sea. 'In a week's time we might see more mortgage fraud offers than we do legitimate offers,' said Realtor Beth Butler."

"'They usually will pick properties where you can get appraisals -- properties to appraise higher than they're actually worth,' Butler said."

The Tampa Tribune. "Florida's foreclosure activity jumped 77 percent in August, compared with July, boosting its foreclosure rate to the third highest among all states. It was even worse in Tampa Bay, where foreclosure filings more than doubled."

"In Florida, 33,932 foreclosures were filed in August. That's a 106 percent increase from August 2006. In Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties, there were a combined 5,904 filings in August, up from 2,871 in July, RealtyTrac said."

"There's been a large jump in the number of people losing their homes. In the Bay area in August, 770 properties were taken over by lenders. That compared with 266 in July and just 38 during August 2006, according to RealtyTrac. Statewide, 2,364 properties were repossessed by lenders."

"'It's alarming that number of properties are making it that far in the process,' said Daren Blomquist, communications manager for RealtyTrac. 'I think this shows that some people in danger of foreclosure now have fewer options to get rid of their homes.'"

The Naples News. "The downturn in the Southwest Florida real estate market should reverse itself by next year, a national economist told a gathering of Naples area Realtors and brokers Thursday."

"'The recovery will not be a robust recovery ... but nonetheless it will be an improvement,' said Lawrence Yun, senior economist at the National Association of Realtors. 'What people experienced back during the (real estate) boom was a once-in-a-lifetime situation,' he added."

"Some local brokers who attended Yun’s talk blamed the media for giving the perception that the market is bad, which in turn hurts foreign investment who base real estate choices on media input. Others attributed the market downturn to the overzealous mortgage firms and the bottoming-out of subprime lending."

"More stringent U.S. visa restrictions have also affected the number of foreigners investing in Naples real estate, according to Yun."

"According to local real estate associate broker Birgit Wolf, 'it was a good time to bring (Yun) in and give Realtors a bit more confidence.' Foreign real estate investors are holding off on local investments now 'because of the media' according to Wolf, who has been an area Realtor for six years."

"Other Realtors said that investors were the ones who needed the reassurance, not their real estate agents. 'Everybody is sort of not knowing what is going to happen next and how far we’re going to have to wait until the market turns,' said Hilda Díaz-Perera, a local broker who attended Yun’s speech."

"'I think we have the subprime rate that really killed us, because investors don’t have any confidence at all,' she added. 'There is no confidence. They don’t want to put their money in real estate.'"