don't bother trying to figure it out

Want to know what's going on with the housing market? Well, try making sense of three articles on the business section of the DenverPost online:

NEW YORK—A widely watched index released Tuesday showed home prices dropping by the sharpest rate ever in the second quarter, but the data for June suggest the severity of the housing slump may be waning.

WASHINGTON—Sales of new homes posted an unexpected gain in July as heavily discounted properties enticed cautious house hunters to become home buyers.
The Commerce Department reported that sales of new single-family homes rose by 2.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 515,000 units, the most since April.

WASHINGTON — Home resales rose in July, surpassing expectations, as buyers snapped up deeply discounted properties in parts of the country hit hardest by the housing bust.
However, the number of unsold properties hit an all-time high, the latest indication that the worst housing slump in decades is far from over. Prices nationwide are not expected to hit bottom until early next year.
The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales rose 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units, up from June's downwardly revised rate of 4.85 million units. Sales had been expected to rise by 1.6 percent, according to economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.