Jeremy Peters did a very nice job in interpreting the Commerce Department's report on new home sales for July. The data showed a surprisingly large jump for July. Rather than seeing this as grounds for celebration that the housing slump was over, Peters noted that the jump was entirely attributable to a large reported jump in sales in the West. He also correctly noted that the rise in median and average price was due to the fact that prices in the west are higher than the nationwide average, therefore a rise in sales in the west would be expected to increase the median and average for the nation as a whole.
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