TAMPA - Luxury home builder WCI Communities said Monday that the number of buyers ordering new homes has dropped steeply, especially in Florida.

The publicly traded Bonita Springs-based builder released data for the first two months of the second quarter that showed orders declined nearly 50 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Condominium tower orders dropped 84 percent.

In response, WCI plans to scale back tower construction from 11 to 13 this year to three to five, according to a company news release.

Rising mortgage interest rates and record high prices have been blamed for a softening real estate market, following a five-year boom. Some industry experts have said the luxury market won't be as severely affected as builders that sell to first-time home buyers.

Michael Carliner, an economist at the National Builders Association, said Monday that WCI's report shows otherwise, and he expects other luxury builders to report similar order drops.

Florida's luxury market could be hit harder than other states because of its vacation-home market, he said. "Most luxury buyers don't need to buy another home at a higher interest rate, and they may wait," Carliner said.

WCI spokesman Steve Zenker would not comment on the company's numbers nor say how the Tampa market would be affected, if at all.

Locally, WCI Communities is mostly known for developing Sun City Center.