*The following press release was sent to local media on May 23 at 11:30 a.m. Sarasota market hits highest sales figure since June 2007 Home sales in the Sarasota MLS for April 2008 stood at 567 - the highest level in 10 months, and approximately 72 percent higher than the sales in January 2008. In 2008, sales have been progressively stronger month by month, possibly due to the influence of the new property tax portability law adopted in late January. Sales have climbed from 329 in January to 423 in February, then 514 in March. Bucking the trend of dropping median sales prices for single family homes, April also saw the median sale price rise to $285,000 from $266,750 in March - about a 7 percent increase. Full Story at : http://www.melsellsfla.com/Real_Estate_News/page_1943567.html WALL STREET JOURNAL -- The Housing Crisis Is Over By CYRIL MOULLE-BERTEAUX May 6, 2008; Page A23 The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now. How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won't happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor. Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old. Home sales peaked in July 2005. New home sales are down a staggering 63% from peak levels of 1.4 million. Housing starts have fallen more than 50% and, adjusted for population growth, are back to the trough levels of 1982. The rest of the story : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121003604494869449.html?od=opinion_main_commentaries

· Nouveau Rich:  There is no one who likes to show off more than the people who lived through equality in income and consumption. Former communist countries like Russia and Kazakhstan are creating newly minted oil barons. Entrepreneurs are springing up en masse in Eastern European countries. A luxury Florida property is the ultimate conspicuous consumption.

· Improving Insurance: Sarasota is artificially being harmed because of high property insurance rates. After the unprecedented number of destructive hurricanes (those with category 3 and higher wind speeds) in 2004 and 2005, the insurers jacked up insurance rates. Yun foresees some retreat in regards to insurance rates in upcoming years because of windfall insurance company profits.