The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "Data released Thursday showed that sale prices of existing single-family homes in the Bay area dropped every month during 2007 when compared with the same month in 2006, and ended the year down 7 percent at $209,100. The Florida Association of Realtors, which tallied the decline, reported that December was even more grim: the median price was $194,200, a 14 percent drop from $226,800 for the same month a year ago."

"'The numbers don't look good at all,' said Chris Lafakis, an economist who covers Florida for Moody's Economy.com. 'Falling home prices discourage some buyers from buying, and that's not what we need. Florida is literally drowning in excess supply right now.'"

"In the Bay area, he said, prices have dropped about 11 percent since peaking in mid-2006. He predicts they will fall by as much as 18 percent more. 'Sellers in Tampa have been reluctant to slice prices, and that's why the inventory is so high,' Lafakis said."

"There's one thing that drives real estate agent Tony Rojas crazy: unrealistic sellers who insist on asking buyers to pay boom-year sales prices despite profound drops in area home values. So he has decided to walk away. In essence, he's firing them."

"'We as Realtors have two choices,' said Rojas. 'We can tell clients what they want to hear. Or we can tell them the truth: Values have dropped. Some clients get so mad when I tell them what their home is really worth that they won't even call me back.'"

The Ledger. "The housing market didn't save any surprises for December, as sales totals fell again to cap off the weakest year in Polk County since 1999. Polk's median sale price in December was $154,100, a decrease of12 percent from $174,300 the year prior, the Florida Association of Realtors reported."

"'I try to counsel my sellers to be competitive in their prices, and I think that's the key right now,' said Judy B. Cleaves, a Realtor based in Winter Haven."

"According to a rough estimate from the Polk County Builders Association, the county still has between 4,500 and 5,000 unsold homes on the market. Scott Coulombe, the association's director, said the group now estimates that as much as 50 percent of the sales activity during Polk's housing boom might have been the work of speculators."

"Although Cleaves said she is content to ride out a dismal period in Florida's housing market, she is tempering her expectations of a significant recovery in 2008. 'I think we're going to have a 'hang in there' year,' she said."

The Herald Tribune. "The number of local homes sold in December fell 10 percent from a year earlier. Some argue that the Sarasota-Bradenton market is on firmer footing than much of the nation because sellers have aggressively reduced prices. But others are reluctant to call that bottom."

"'We're not seeing a recovery, merely a slowing of the fall,' said broker associate Andrew Bers. 'After huge price run-ups locally over the past several years, our market retreat was one of the first and fastest. Now that decline is starting to slow as we return to more sustainable price levels, but affordability is still affected by several issues that will continue to put downward pressure on pricing and sales.'"

The News Press. "Lee County home sales ended a horrible year with a sharp two-month drop in prices, according to a report Thursday. For single-family homes in Lee County, the median price in December was $215,200, down 18 percent from $263,700 a year earlier and 10 percent off October's $239,300. November's numbers weren't available."

"'I've seen in the last couple of months some pretty big price declines,' said agent Brett Ellis. 'A lot of sellers are getting caught unaware of what's happening in the market.'"

"Overall, he said, the decline in the median price probably understates the actual drop in the market since its frenzied peak in late 2005. Since the record high of $322,300 in December 2005, the median price is off 33 percent."

"About 1,000 homes a month are going into foreclosure, a trend Ellis said should peak in the third quarter of this year."

"'Forget the official median statistics; the market's down, in my opinion, 40 percent and some of the waterfront markets more than that: half, maybe 60 percent,' Ellis said."

"One homeowner trying to sell said she's still hoping to get a good price. 'I don't know. Look at the market. But we've got 2 acres. How much lower do we go?' said Jill Goodman, who with her husband is trying to sell the four-bedroom, four-bath house and guest cottage they've owned for six years in Fort Myers for $729,000. They bought it in 2001 for $262,900."

"They're trying to sell without an agent and may come down on their asking price, which they've already cut from $1.1 million when they started in June."

"'There's still a little room to negotiate,' Goodman said."

The Naples News. "The number of homes sold in Fort Myers/Cape Coal saw a 28-percent decline while condominiums dropped 10 percent. The Naples-Marco Island area showed a 26-percent decline in homes sold, said a report."

"'I have seen prices drop by more than 30 percent in some areas like Golden Gate Estates, less in others,' said broker Jerry Osinski."

"'The real estate market is cyclical,' said Mary Birdsong, broker in south Fort Myers. 'I don’t know where the bottom will be, but the cycle will end.'"

The Miami Herald. "Would-be buyers can take heart that South Florida home prices are finally buckling."

"In Broward County, the median price of an existing single-family home dropped 10 percent to $329,800 in December compared with a year ago, according to a report. Condo prices slipped 14 percent, to a median of $171,800, following a year of declines."

"'You are seeing 10 percent drops now, and you're going to continue to see that, and even greater numbers,' said Jack Winston, a principal with data analyst Goodkin Consulting in Miami, of condos. 'It is going to be catastrophic.'"

"Doug DeWitt, a Miami real estate broker, said he had recently received 16 offers, mostly from cash-wielding investors, on a vandalized four-bedroom town house in Westchester reduced from $230,000 to $166,000."

"Winston questioned the wisdom of bargain-hunters, saying they may be mistaken in thinking the market had hit bottom."

"'At the end of the day, who are you going to sell those units to? You need real buyers,' Winston said. 'People may scour around for bargains here and there, but if they aren't going to live in the property, they'll still have to hold it.'"

The Sun Sentinel. "Palm Beach County existing home sales last year fell 19 percent, to 6,971 from 8,640, the Florida Association of Realtors said Thursday. It was by far the fewest homes to change hands in a single year countywide since the Realtors group started keeping track in 1994."

"'We're in a contraction phase,' said David Levin, a Delray Beach-based housing analyst. 'It's going to take time. We need to step back philosophically and realize that.'"

The Palm Beach Post. "Median prices of existing single-family homes in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast dropped 12 months in a row, the Florida Association of Realtors said."

"But although local home sale ads are filled with five and six-figure price cuts, and although sellers are offering to hold second mortgages or even pay several months of the mortgage, sales have stalled."

"There's no getting around it: 2007 was an ugly year for home sales, raising fears that the slumping housing market would lead to a recession."

"Bradley Hunter, director of the South Florida region for MetroStudy in West Palm Beach, said he applies 'the duck test' when pondering such weighty things as recession: 'If it quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck and walks like a duck,' Hunter said, 'it's a duck.'"

"Translation? 'We're at least in a localized recession,' he said."

From TC Palm. "Existing single-family homes are selling for $43,200 less than a year ago in Martin and St. Lucie counties, but Realtors say things may be looking up. Or at least they’re stabilizing to numbers that more reflect the market before the speculators' surge of the past few years."

"'I estimate we had somewhere in the area of 40 percent of the buyers the past few years were speculators,' said Scott Wingfield, president of the Realtors Association of St. Lucie County. 'They’re out of the market now. You’d be doing yourself a disservice to look at those numbers. We need to get back to comparing it to ’01, ’02, ’03 with what is happening. That is a real reflection of the true market.'"

The Orlando Sentinel. "Lenders have foreclosed on several properties owned by Orlando developer Cameron Kuhn, including his centerpiece tower project The Plaza, the largest redevelopment in downtown's history."

"The two other foreclosure suits against Kuhn were filed in late December by Illinois companies. One involves the mortgage on Kuhn's Lake Butler home in Windermere; the other involves property in downtown Orlando on which Kuhn once planned to build a mixed-use tower."

"The trio of foreclosures raises questions about Kuhn's plans for Church Street Station, a once-popular but bankrupt entertainment complex he bought with great fanfare last year for $34 million."

"'We have been through some downturns and always come back,' said John F. Ballard, a senior director based in Orlando with the commercial real-estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield of Florida. 'I see no reason not to be confident about Orlando's future.'"

"One of his fellow investors in The Plaza LLC, which does not include the garage, told me Kuhn is taking the hit 'stoically.' 'Cameron is not happy about it, but he's not curled up into a fetal position,' said Griff Winthrop."

"Kuhn's troubles follow a foreclosure by a Dutch bank on Euro American Advisors' 55 West, a condo tower on Church Street. And we're left with a downtown that appears to have a skyline thick with towers from a distance, but like a mirage, dissipates up close."

"The sidewalks aren't as crowded as they should be. Retail choices are lacking. Take a look at the balconies of the condo towers and count how many have the homey touches of plants or patio furniture -- there aren't many."

"Downtown's potential is still great. But empty buildings are still empty no matter how shiny and new they are."

The News Journal. "It was not a good year for home sellers in Volusia and Flagler counties. There were 6,701 houses sold by Realtors in 2007, the fewest since 2001. The dwindling sales pulled the median price of houses in the two-county area below $200,000."

"'Things are still shaking themselves out,' said Realtor Greg Antonich, a past-president of the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors."

"He said the drop in the median sales price was to be expected, noting prices have risen in recent years as homeowners used their properties as 'piggybanks' and refinanced them for various reasons."

"'A lot of this was artificial,' he said about pricing."

"Local residents Arline and Richard Pendl have been trying to sell their home in Sunrise Oaks for nearly a year. But no serious takers have surfaced for the four-bedroom, 2,600-square-foot home with a double garage."

"It isn't that the retirees don't like the house or even the area. They simply have decided it's time to downsize and, oh yeah, there is the question of those increasing property taxes. 'The taxes are just unbelievable,' Arline Pendl said in a telephone interview. 'They have gone up $2,000 since we moved here.'"

"So while they wait, the Pendls have dug in their heels and dropped their asking price to $369,000. They dropped it twice before, she said. 'My husband and I agree that we are not going to give this house away,' she said.'