The Miami Herald reports from Florida. "South Florida's housing market continues its slump. Home sales fell sharply in August, the Florida Association of Realtors reported. In Miami-Dade County, existing single-family home sales in August dropped 45 percent from the same month a year ago and 24 percent from July. Broward single-family home sales in August were off 23 percent from August 2006."

"It was a similar story for condominiums. Miami-Dade condo sales fell 44 percent in August over last year and 16 percent from July. Broward condo sales were off 22 percent from last year and 2 percent compared to July."

"The number of homes waiting for buyers continued growing, from 60,900 in Miami-Dade and Broward in August 2006 to more than 80,000 this year. At the current rate, it would take 25 months to sell all of the single-family homes on the market in Miami-Dade, and 36 months for condos. It would take 21 months to sell all the homes in Broward, and 29 months for condos."

"Broward condos are the one area where sellers reduced prices in a meaningful way. The median price dropped 12 percent over last August to $178,800. This scenario, observers say, will be the key to market recovery: Cut prices to spur buying, which will reduce the number of homes for sale."

"'When prices start to relax and fall, it is part of the healing process to bring us back to a balanced market,' said Richard Barkett, CEO of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale."

"'There are times when the market speaks loudly and clearly and gives an indication that it's time to pull back and retrench and to wait for another day, and these are those times,' Miami (based) home builder Lennar CEO Stuart Miller said."

The Herald Tribune. "The median sales price for a home in the Sarasota-Bradenton market slid 11 percent from last August to its low point for the year at $273,500, a Tuesday report from the Florida Association of Realtors showed."

"That continued a pricing decline that started in July after six straight months in which the market had seemed to bottom out in the $292,000 range."

"Statistics in Manatee and Sarasota counties tell the same tale over the last two years: threefold to fourfold increases in inventory and a sell-through rate that is 50 percent to 60 percent of its former self."

"In that two years, Manatee's listings went up by 380 percent to 5,372 homes. Meanwhile, the number of sold homes per month slid to 174, a 45 percent decline from two years earlier. In Sarasota County, the inventory rose by an almost identical 372 percent to 4,756 homes. The number of closings fell by exactly 50 percent to an average of 36 homes per week."

"But Jim Willig, a Sarasota real estate investor, says that so far, his offers are not being taken seriously by the banks that are left holding homes when a seller goes into default."

"'Honestly, I feel like Rodney Dangerfield,' said Willig. 'What is amazing is how little respect I get. I am a cash buyer in this marketplace, yet no one cares.'"

"'The prices have really dropped 25 percent from the peak,' said broker Bill Norberg. Waterfront bargains abound: Norberg recently sold his own home in Burnt Store Isles, on sailboat water and appraised at $650,000 in January 2005, for $450,000."

"'The only way I could sell it was to be the cheapest house in the neighborhood,' he said."

The Ledger. "Marred by inflated prices, a glut of new home inventory and indecisive buyers, Polk County's housing market continued its decline last month. Existing home sales dropped nearly 32 percent from 499 in August 2006 to 340 last month. It was the 15th consecutive month sales totals had declined from the year before."

"'People just have to get realistic,' said Scott Coulombe, executive director of the Polk County Builders Association. 'People selling a home can't ask for those outrageous prices anymore.'"

From TC Palm. "Jennifer Atkisson-Lovett, president of the Realtors Association of Martin County, said) that...sellers realized the changing market and lowered their prices. The median home price in August was $247,750, down 16 percent from a year earlier."

"The condominium market in Martin saw a 58 percent decrease in the number of units sold, with 37 changing hands in August. The median condo price dropped by a third to $160,000."

"The Realtors Association of Indian River County reported 159 existing single-family homes were sold in August — 16.9 percent more than from the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, the median home price dipped 6.4 percent to $207,000 for the same period."

"'It's a little glimpse of glory,' said Karen Hall, association president. 'I am encouraged by these figures. ... I think we are headed in the right direction.'"

"Hall said the increase was likely driven by sellers lowering their prices. 'Sellers are becoming more realistic about their prices,' Hall said. 'They are realizing that they may not be seeing the big bucks that some people were making in the past.'"

"According to William Pittenger, chief real estate economist for Seacoast National Bank, prices will need to continue to roll back to 2003-2004 levels 'before we start to see any major action in the market.'"

"The increase, however, didn't spill over to the rest of the Treasure Coast. The Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie area, which includes Stuart, had 287 single-family homes sold in August, reflecting a 26 percent decrease from a year ago, according to the Florida Association of Realtors."

"The median home price for the same period also fell 15 percent to $214,200."

The News Press. "In Lee County, the median price of a single-family home sold with the assistance of a Realtor dropped 5 percent to $250,800 from $264,100 in August 2006. Sales were down 25 percent to 520 from 691 in August 2006, according to the Florida Association of Realtors."

"Statewide, the median price fell 6 percent, from $246,800 to $231,900 and the number of sales fell 26 percent from 15,252 to 11,279."

"'Another month of falling sales and rising inventories tells us the housing market is still a basket case,' said economist Joel Naroff. 'It is going to take a long time to work off that imbalance and undoubtedly prices will have to fall a whole lot further.'"

From Tampa Bay 10. "Take a trip down any street in Tampa, the for-sale signs are tough to ignore. 'It’s huge, there's a lot of properties on the market,' said realtor Bradd Monroe. He’s been in the local industry for more than 20-years."

"'We have a few months of inventory, about 17-months of inventory, which I believe is a record for us,' he stated."

"The building boom two years ago seems to have backfired. Monroe says too many people wanted to flip for a quick buck. It didn’t happen. And many homeowners, he said, got in over their heads with loans they couldn't afford and didn't understand."

"'616 on the 'Lis Pendens' of foreclosure filed this month in Hillsborough County,' Monroe said."

"The developer of the new Platinum condominium in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood auctioned 20 units Thursday in hopes of speeding up sales in the sluggish housing market. But Maysville now says bids were so low that it is rejecting all offers except those it promised to honor regardless of price. It plans to rent the units and wait until the market improves."

''The bids were significantly lower then even our preconstruction prices,' said Alex Redondo, Maysville president. 'I had hopes that units would at least sell north of that.'"

"Maysville initially promised to sell eight of the units absolute, meaning the units would go to the highest bidder no matter how low the price. Ultimately the developer sold nine without minimums."

"At the auction, Redondo said, the most expensive unit sold for $269 per square foot, and one even went for as low as $195 per square foot. 'I am not going to just give away my work,' Redondo said. 'I was very surprised.'"

"'It's symptomatic of part of the problem, buyers and sellers are still too far apart,' said Tom Dixon, a commercial real estate broker who assesses property values for tax appeals. 'Someone has to say, ouch, I give up.'"

"Said Kevin Tomlinson, a Miami Beach condo broker, 'this is the market speaking.'"

"Redondo said he didn't undercut his previous buyers but the market did, albeit vividly illustrated through an auction. 'The market is what it is,' Redondo said. 'This is a sign that the market has already come down more than people are thinking.'"

"Do you recall that guilt trip that the media and others attempted to apply to us Southwest Florida residents at the height of the building boom?"

"It went something like this: 'Property values are so high that the community's critical workers — the police, firefighters, teachers and nurses — can't afford to buy homes and live in Southwest Florida. Therefore, the taxpayers ought to subsidize such things as apartment projects and housing projects.' Remember that?"

"Even though I am retired, I don't speculate in real estate, bought my first home almost on 'green stamps,' exist on limited income and pay my medical bills myself, I felt like I was doing something wrong — because I was living in my own home."

"The News-Press and other media said that I was being unfair to the police, firefighters, teachers and nurses because I could afford a home, and they couldn't."

"That's why I was so happy when the building boom went bust."

"I figured that now that housing prices are in the toilet, and that home bargains are galore, that all those police, firefighters, teachers and nurses would be snapping up homes like it was a fire sale. I'm so happy that they now can afford what they couldn't afford before, and now I don't have to feel guilty."

"I think it would be a great story if The News-Press did one of its investigative reports on how many of those police, firefighters, teachers and nurses are taking advantage of this building bust to achieve their home ownership dreams."

"Heck, given the degree of the problem before, their home buying should turn this bust back into a boom."