TC Palm reports on Florida. "Existing home sales and prices in September continued to fall in Indian River County, a report from the Realtors Association of Indian River County said Wednesday. In the county, 94 existing single-family homes sold in September, down from 141 units the year before, the Realtors association said. Prices dropped to $174,495 from $220,400 between the same months."

"'Figures seem to show we are not at the bottom yet and that sellers are reducing their prices,' said Richard Hope, past president of the Treasure Coast Builders Association and a Vero Beach general contractor."

"The median sales price for an existing single-family home in the area dropped 17 percent to $202,000 in September compared with $244,300 last year."

"'I think this shows that we're still an affordable community,' said Sheri Wetzel, president of the Realtors Association of St. Lucie County. 'Where else can you find a waterfront community and find affordable housing that a family can make payments on?'"

"Statewide, home sales dropped 38 percent to 8,688 in September from the same month of 2006, the state association said."

The News Press. "Debra McAlister-Brown’s not too concerned she’s had to cut the price of her home in today’s falling market."

"McAlister-Brown has her 2,000-square-foot, four-bedroom house in Estero for sale at $329,000, newly reduced from $364,900. She originally listed it at $399,000 when she decided to sell and move to Stoneybrook. But time has not been on her side."

"In Lee County, compared to a year ago, September’s numbers also were bleak: The price was down 11 percent, from $261,400, and sales were down 53 percent compared with 693 in September 2006."

"McAlister-Brown said she’s philosophical, having made $10,000 in 2005 when she sold a 1,600-square-foot house for $360,000 to buy the one in Fountain Lakes for $350,000. 'At the time when I bought it, it was a really good deal,' she said. 'I’m really not losing like a lot of people.'"

"In Charlotte County, the median sales price was $170,000, down 20 percent from $213,200 in September 2006. The number of sales also fell, 16 percent, from 226 to 189."

"Her listing agent, Kerry Collier, said, 'If someone’s going to buy a home and sell it in a year or two, I’d be cautious.'"

The Naples News. "Looking forward, numbers Brett Ellis, a partner with The Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers, uses to predict future statistics don’t bode well for the short term. Using a formula based on the number of active listings and the number of pending sales to come up with a current market index, Ellis doesn’t see good things for October or even November figures."

"'The index tells me this market has not bottomed out yet,' he said."

"The 15,438 single-family homes on the market in Lee County translates to about a three-year inventory, he said. He estimates that the 8,212 condominiums for sale is about a five-year inventory."

"'Right now the buyer is actually looking at the best of both worlds — lower prices and lots of houses to pick from,' he said."

The Tampa Tribune. "Home sellers in the Tampa Bay area appear be coming around to the idea that striking a deal in this sluggish market means lowering prices. But buyers appear to be holding out."

"The median sales price of existing, single-family homes in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area in September fell 10 percent to $200,700 compared with the same month last year, according to the Florida Association of Realtors."

"The number of homes sold plummeted 40 percent in September to 1,691, compared with the same month last year when 2,803 were sold."

"'Halloween came a little early for the Florida housing market,' said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst based in Jupiter. 'These numbers are scary.'"

"The condo market continued to slow statewide. Sales fell 37 percent and prices slid 4 percent to a median of $194,200."

"Local real estate agents have been trying to persuade clients to price homes realistically. Nancy Otten, an agent in Tampa, said sellers are getting the message and buyers are getting more home for their money."

"'You can put any kind of offer out there and see what sticks,' Otten said. 'There are phenomenal deals out there.'"

The St Petersburg Times. "As sales continue to plummet in the Tampa Bay area, sellers are finally waking up to the fact that they'll have to lower their prices if they hope to get rid of their property."

"The price slashing should provide psychological relief for entry-level workers and other wanna-be home buyers, who could have snapped up a home in the $130,000s if they'd been buying five years ago. The median housing price here hasn't dipped below the $200,000 mark - or come close to it - since May of 2005."

"Michael Bullock, the president of Michael's Carpet & Vinyl in Lakeland, says a year ago, about three-quarters of his jobs were in new or remodeled homes. Now, about three-quarters of his jobs are in office buildings. He knows of two nearby carpet stores that were recently shuttered because they did only residential jobs."

"'I'm not hearing anything' from home builders, said Bullock."

The Miami Herald. "Prices of homes and condos in Broward County dropped in September compared with a year ago, a sign that stubborn sellers may finally be accepting the reality that they are no longer able to get the sky-high prices of the boom years."

"Broward's single-family home sales were off last year's number by 46 percent; condo sales declined 39 percent. But prices also fell -- the median home price down 7 percent year-over-year to $345,200 while condo prices slipped 15 percent to $174,600."

"In Miami-Dade, single-family home sales were more than cut in half for the month, dropping 53 percent from September 2006. Condo sales were similarly off 47 percent. The number of homes for sale has continued to balloon. A record number of new condos will be completed in 2008, and many observers predict that those units will go back on the market for sale and add to the existing overhang of condos for sale."

"'Too many sellers are still refusing to face reality, that all of the inflated prices and price increases over the last few years was not realistic. They think they should still be entitled to the same prices as their neighbors a few years ago,' real estate analyst Jack Winston said."

"Gabriella Berenyi, a seller in Oakland Park, said she will not budge further on her price. Nearly a year ago she put her three-bedroom lakefront condo up for sale, asking $289,000. She found few interested buyers, and the ones she found couldn't qualify for a mortgage. So she dropped her price to $279,000."

"'This has been the worst experience,' she said. 'But I don't believe in going down too low [on the price] because I invested so much remodeling it. If I go down too low, I can't get any money out of it. So I am trying to rent it out now; people say prices will go up in six months or a year.'"

The Sun Sentinel. "September's home sales plummeted in Palm Beach County. In the coming weeks and months, buyers should expect sellers to keep dropping home prices, experts said."

"'In last 60 days, anecdotally we're hearing about a lot more capitulations on part of sellers,' said Brad Hunter, a housing analyst with Metrostudy in West Palm Beach."

"In September, sales of existing homes in Palm Beach County declined 17 percent to 471 from 566 a year ago, FAR said Wednesday. The county's condominium market also was sluggish last month. Sales fell 29 percent, and the median price of $180,000 dropped 18 percent from $220,500 a year ago."

"Joel and Linda Levy have been trying to sell their three-bedroom home in a gated community west of Boynton Beach for about two months. They think their asking price of $389,900 is a good value, but the couple may have to consider dropping the price."

"'A lot of people liked it very much, but no one has offered a penny yet,' Linda Levy said."

"Area real estate agents and experts say sellers still have room to lower their asking prices. 'Sellers need to get a grip,' said David Dweck, head of the Boca Real Estate Investment Club. Homeowners are not likely to sell their homes if they're not 'priced slightly below the market and your property is not beautiful,' he said. 'Buyers have their pick of the litter.'"

"Home prices also are being affected by the increasing number of mortgage foreclosures. 'The banks are starting to deal,' Dweck said. 'Banks will have to liquidate to get off the book by year's end.'"

"But existing homeowners trying to sell will be competing with builders, some of whom are slashing prices to reduce their inventory by the end of the year."

The Bradenton Herald. "Bradenton-Sarasota's once soaring existing-home prices, which two years ago were $90,000 more than the state median, are now less than $25,000 above it, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Florida Association of Realtors."

"'Short sales and foreclosures have definitely affected the price point,' said May Aston, 2007 president of the Manatee Association of Realtors."

"Aston also attributes the falling home prices, in part, to more realistic sellers. 'I think people are realizing they are not going to get the prices they wanted,' Aston said."

"In some areas throughout the county, prices have returned to 2004 levels, but every street is different in the settling market."

"Lower prices have brought back a familiar face to the market: the investor. 'They are the ones buying the foreclosures,' Aston said."

"Most are only buying homes they can snap up at way below market value."

"Although current sales numbers appear bleak compared to the go-go years of the real estate boom, 2007 is on track to be the fifth highest year on record for existing home sales, said Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the National Association of Realtors."

The Herald Tribune. "The state's real estate agents sold just 8,688 homes last month, down 38 percent from a year earlier. But the number looks even worse when you compare it with previous years. In September 2003, agents handled 18,222 transactions, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. Their records go back to 1993, when September sales totaled 9,249."

"'If you look at the existing home numbers for the nation as a whole it is the same story, and Florida is just worse,' said economist Adam York of Wachovia Corp."

"The median price for a home in the Sarasota-Bradenton market during January 2006 was $353,500. From then until now, the two-county area has taken a 31 percent hit, or $109,200 off the median price."

"In Charlotte County-North Port, the median went from $227,400 in early 2006 to $170,000 last month, a 25 percent drop."

"The incoming president of the Florida Association of Realtors, Chuck Bonfiglio Sr., joked that he asked if he could go from president-elect to immediate past-president. 'But they wouldn't let me,' said Bonfiglio, who works in Fort Lauderdale."

"His market suffered so much so that its single-family home sales for the month were actually less than in the Sarasota-Bradenton market, at 441 transactions. The figure was off nearly 50 percent from one year earlier."

"David Dutch just landed a waterfront house on Longboat Key for what he thinks was a great deal. Previously, Dutch had found he 'couldn't touch anything under a million directly on the bay.'"

"The seller for Dutch's house was a speculator with multiple mortgages, including an ARM with a fast-approaching reset. The seller's original asking price was $1.5 million, but he got no offers. Then he dropped it to $1.3 million. Still no offers."

"'The seller received a $1.1 million offer a while back, which was rejected,' said Dutch, who bought for $800,000. 'It felt good.'"

"Dutch thinks the local real estate market is still a couple of years away from normalcy. 'Did we catch the bottom? I don't know, but I think that Florida rose and fell the fastest, so hopefully we bought at the right time,' he said."

"The developer of Thomas Ranch, an area which is primed for 15,000 homes, will be allowed to extend the town-sized development into one of the last remaining rural tracts in south Sarasota County."

"The 2,850-acre property's rural land use already allowed about 1,000 homes in an area that county planners said could be overburdened by the more than 15,000 homes already approved for south Sarasota County and North Port."

"'There is not a need for additional capacity' in housing, county Planning Director Anne McClung told the commission."

"The dissenting commissioners echoed the comments of residents, who questioned both the need and the timing of the proposal. 'Call me crazy,' said Englewood resident Kellie Pearson, 'but I don't see why we need another 6,000 homes.'"