The Washington Post told us “new-home sales up 3.3 percent” in a headline to an article on the release of April data on new home sales. The article itself pointed out that the April figure was only up measured against a downwardly revised March sales number and that sales remained near a 17-year low.

The article accurately reflected the weak state of the housing market indicated by recent data. The headline may have given readers a different impression.

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.