October 25, 2007 (LPAC)--Despite failing to find any solutions to the housing and mortgage crisis, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau announced that September new home sales were "up" from August figures.

Commerce accomplished this by means of a huge downward revision in what had been reported for August as sales projecting to an annual rate of 788,000 - now revised to 735,000, an 11-year low. (The revision represents sale cancellations, which the Census methodology is now partially capturing.) Thus September sales of new homes, currently projecting to a 770,000 annual figure (watch this space for the revision of THAT figure, when an October-sales up-tick is needed next month), a 4.8% increase over the August figures.

Despite this “economic good news,” Bloomberg.com reports that "Builders are offering more incentives to attract buyers. Pulte Homes Inc., the third largest U.S. homebuilder, had a Halloween-themed 'Monster Sale' last weekend including free appliances and landscaping and 5.875 percent, 30-year fixed financing."