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| Property values: the half-full glass in Charlotte County
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| When is a 16.4 percent decline in property values good news? When Charlotte County officials were bracing for a drop of as much as 30 percent. The property devaluation figure released June 30 means the county faces a $42 million budget shortfall for the 2009-10 fiscal year, instead of one ranging from $48 million to $62 million.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Sarasota taxes will stay flat
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| County commissioners voted Wednesday to keep the tax rates flat. With property values plummeting and the county's tax base shrinking by about a quarter over the last two years, property tax collections would still be down $24 million in the coming year despite the small rate increase. Between the drop in property taxes and decline in the collection of other taxes, the county has an overall shortfall of $35 million. The bulk of that will be filled by using reserves built up during the construction boom.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0315 EDST
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| New rules blamed for blowing Lee County real estate deals
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| At issue are rules that took effect May 1 requiring that loans picked up by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to include appraisals by appraisers that have no connection with the bank personnel approving the deals. That means that many banks have turned appraisals over to appraisal management companies that then hire the appraisers so there's no direct connection with the banks.
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| @ Ft. Myers News Press | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Citizens Property Insurance board approves 10% rate hike
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| Ending a three-year rate freeze, the board of state-run Citizens Property Insurance approved raising rates for most policyholders by 10 percent next year.
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| @ St. Petersburg Times | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Mortgage, refinance applications rise
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| Mortgage applications rose 10.9 percent nationwide last week and requests to refinance existing loans rebounded from the week before. Refinance applications increased 15.2 percent for the week that ended July 3. The data was adjusted to account for the Independence Day holiday.
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| @ Tampa Tribune | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Passenger traffic slides at Orlando International
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| Traffic at Orlando International Airport fell for the 12th consecutive month in May, driven by falling domestic travel. About 2.9 million people used OIA in May, a decline of 8.6 percent compared with May 2008. Domestic traffic decreased 10.2 percent, according to a report released Tuesday by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. For the second month in a row, international traffic was up. It increased 13.6 percent compared with May 2008.
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Budget solutions still evade some U.S. states
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| A week after a new fiscal year began for the majority of U.S. states, several still lacked balanced budgets on Wednesday and a few of those were likely not to reach a deal for at least another week.
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| @ Reuters | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0415 EDST
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| California on brink of fresh budget talks
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| The state has been doling out IOUs ever since negotiations over the $26.3 billion budget gap stalled between the legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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| @ CnnMoney.Com | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0419 EDST
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| German Recession May Have Ended in Second Quarter
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| Europe's largest economy posted a record contraction of 3.8 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2009 and has shrunk in every quarter since the April-June period of 2008. The government has forecast the economy will shrink by 6 percent overall in 2009, which would be a contraction nearly seven times more severe than in any year since World War Two.
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| @ CNBC | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0646 EDST
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| China Car Sales Jump 48% on Support, Most Since 2006
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| Chinese motorists bought 872,900 cars, sport-utility vehicles and other passenger vehicles last month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement today. Overall auto sales, including buses and trucks, rose 36 percent from a year earlier to 1.14 million.
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0652 EDST
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| UK's Nationwide offers 125% mortgage
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| The mortgage is available only to borrowers who can prove they can afford the payments, but will nonetheless be a surprise – given the more cautious approach to lending by many banks and building societies, as well as government intentions to ensure greater prudence across the financial sector.
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 07/09/09 at 0655 EDST
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