August 27, 2007 (LPAC)--To believe the National Association of Realtors press release on July housing sales, "Existing-home sales were essentially unchanged in July, with increases in the West and Northeast offset by a decline in the Midwest." Total existing-home sales "slipped" a mere 0.2% in last month, they said. However, their attempt to whistle past the graveyard, could not hide the reality that sales were a full 9% below what they were a year ago, in July of 2006, when home prices were at an all-time high. Nor could they hide the fact that sales have now fallen every month since then.

As a result, the inventory of unsold homes rose 5.1% in June to 4.59 million homes for sale, which represents a 9.6-month supply at the current sales pace, and is now at the highest level since the last housing depression, 16 years ago.