The St Petersburg Times reports from Florida. "The median sales price of single family homes in Pinellas County dropped 14 percent year over year. Prices fell to $185,000 in November from the $215,000 recorded a year earlier. Pasco County came out even worse, showing an 18 percent median home price decline, to $170,000 last month from $208,000 in November 2006."

"It was the worst year-to-year home price drop in at least a decade, though statistics don't go back far enough to prove whether it rivals declines in earlier housing slumps."

"'Every neighborhood's stressed. There are no exceptions,' said St. Petersburg Realtor Bunni Longwell."

"Pinellas sales were off 22.6 percent over the year. Pasco and Hillsborough home sales plunged by about a third in the same period."

"At the heart of the price drop is the massive inventory of homes on the market. More than 40,000 houses and condos clog the listings in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough. Investors get most of the blame. They over-stimulated new home construction through 2006 and dumped the surplus onto the market."

"Pasco's condo scene illustrates the dilemma: Two years ago 43 of 153 condos on the market sold in November. This November's sales were nearly the same - 41 - but listings had ballooned to 1,301."

The Herald Tribune from Florida. "The downturn in the economy, spiking property taxes,, the rising cost of living and aggravations associated with population growth have Floridians feeling worse about their state than they did a year ago, a Mason-Dixon survey shows."

"Forty-three percent of Floridians now feel their quality of life is declining, up from 36 percent last year, the survey said."

"Thirty-three percent said they would not encourage a friend or relative to move here, while 20 percent of the 1,200 people surveyed said they are seriously thinking of leaving."

"With the real estate and construction industries in the doldrums, retail sales dropping, student enrollment down 8,000 statewide this year and agriculture output threatened by a serious drought, the state's problems have only been increasing in recent months."

"What pushed Katharine Pratt over the edge was when her property taxes doubled. 'I felt I was never getting ahead,' she said. 'It drove me out of my hometown.'"

"Carol Hunewell, a Fort Myers resident, is biding her time until she can leave for Massachusetts or California. 'You own your home, but now you're renting it with all the additional fees,' she says."

"Winnie Nelon, a Massachusetts snowbird and founder of Homeowners Against Runaway Taxes, said about 10 tourists came up to her at the Winter Fest on Anna Maria Island this month and said they were thinking of buying here until they looked at the costs of property taxes and insurance."

"'Now they are looking elsewhere,' Nelon said."

"'My advice would be to stop talking about the perceived problem, because I see it as self-correcting,' said Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash. 'Now that property values are coming down, property taxes will come down, too.'"

The Daily Report from Georgia. "The two most important factors necessary to ensure a successful resurgence for downtown Atlanta—drawing more residents and retail—have evoked a sort of chicken-and-egg dilemma among the central city’s boosters and business owners."

"'If people expect a certain amount of amenities like restaurants, drug stores and nail salons that you would expect for a 24-hour city then they won’t want to move [downtown]—and the retailers won’t want to invest in a market until the numbers are there, until the people are there,' said Whitney Rusert, president of the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association."

"Twenty-six of the projects that are under construction, planned or part of a multiphase development will have residences, contributing to the more than 11,000 new households with an average of one or two people the analysis states are expected to have moved downtown between 2000 and 2012."

"With more, higher-priced living quarters available, the average income of new downtown households is expected to increase from $61,000, the average in 2000, to $71,000 by 2012, the RCLCO report stated. The expected household income increase is key to attracting the 'proper retail for the market audience,' said Ellen Mendelsohn, a project manager with CAP’s economic development department."

"The CVS is the only drug store downtown. There currently isn’t a major grocery store downtown either. The last grocery store downtown, a Kroger located across from City Hall, closed in 2005 after a decade-long run. The 13,000-square-foot supermarket was set up as a ground retailer for the City Plaza apartment complex at Central and Trinity avenues. The storefront is now a haven for homeless people."

"'Amenity wise, it would be a challenge to live downtown,' said restaurateur Bob Amick, who believes this will change."

"Emory Morsberger, whose company, The Morsberger Group, is interested in revitalizing the newly branded Railroad District in south downtown, said he invested in the central city because 'much better values exist in the downtown submarket.'"

"'In real estate, it’s hard to make money when you are buying at the top price right off the bat. … I was amazed at some of the prices we were able to get buildings for in Atlanta—there’s a desire to be downtown—not everyone can afford a $500,000 condo in Buckhead,' said Morsberger."

The Times News from North Carolina. "It's not just high dollar homes that are sitting on the market longer due to the rapidly deflating housing bubble. Projects such as Brickton Village, an affordable condominium development under construction in Fletcher, have also felt the slowdown."

"The development has sold 75 of its first 168 units, which are priced from $94,000 to $130,000, since starting sales nine months ago, developer Rod Hubbard says. He compared that to his other development, the Grove at Appledorn in Asheville's Shiloh community. There he built 168 units selling for $69,000 to $130,000 three years ago."

"'When I did this in Asheville, I was sold out before I went vertical (with construction). That is how serious the difference in the real estate market has become,' Hubbard said. 'And I'm selling a product that is superior to what I was building in Asheville.'"

"Because of the slowdown, Hubbard wants the Fletcher Town Council to allow him to revise his plans for a second phase of Brickton Village. Instead of an additional 200 for sale units as originally planned, he wants the town to permit him to build more than 340 units, and the flexibility to rent rather than sell them."

"'We agreed on a project to be bought and owned by the individual. Now the concern is, is it going to be for rent?' Mayor Pro Tem Eddie Henderson said. 'I prefer this development to be as it was in June.'"

"Hubbard responded: 'Well, I do too. I've just invested $18 million in a product here and I'm just 50 percent sold out,' he said."

"Western North Carolina, with its mountain views and desirability, is sheltered from the full brunt of the poor housing market nationwide but not immune, he said. 'Let's be serious, things have burst. It is not raining but it is sprinkling,' he said."

The Rocky Mount Telegram from North Carolina. "North Carolina had for months, to some extent, resisted a national trend that has led to a record-setting downturn in the housing market. According to a recent report, though, the state – the Twin Counties included – may be giving into the pressure."

"Foreclosure activity in North Carolina grew 10 times faster than the national average in October, according to RealtyTrac. The rate was up nearly 150 percent compared with October of 2006."

"Wachocia has been forced to foreclose upon more North Carolina properties than in years past, most notably near Winston-Salem and Charlotte, according to a bank representative."

"'After the flood, a lot of people went out and purchased these nice, big houses,' said Deputy Tax Collector Tarasa Lewis, who specializes in delinquent tax collection. 'They didn't take into consideration that their tax rates would be higher and not all of them have been able to afford it. That accounts for a lot of the properties the county forecloses on."

"'It's not what we want to do, but it's what we need to do,' Lewis said."