Existing home sales in Florida slid 26 percent in March over the same a month a year earlier. About 9,142 homes sold last month versus 12,356 in March 2007.

Florida home prices were off 15 percent during the same period, from $242,800 to $205,600. A spurt in short sales - the practice of selling a home for less than the outstanding loan balance - has helped suppress prices.

Noteworthy in the March numbers was the how the real estate slump has spread to what had been relatively immune markets. Miami was one of the top sales losers, but places like Ocala, Jacksonville and Pensacola also had worse-than-average declines.

The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater figures were skewed for March. That's because Realtors from Pinellas and West Pasco counties failed to report their numbers. They blamed glitches with a new computer system.

So what we do have for the Tampa metro area is pretty much restricted to Hillsborough and central Pasco counties. And the numbers weren't all that horrendous - considering.

Single family home sales were down 11 percent year to year, from 1,107 to 1,250. Prices were off 18 percent, from $219,800 to $180,500.