Just get it over with

They probably just wanted to get it over with, but after reading the press release from the National Association of Realtors on existing home sales for September, it is clear that they could have spent a little more time making that first sentence a bit more readable.

Temporary problems in the mortgage market are easing and are expected to free some pent-up demand, but disrupted existing-home sales and distorted prices on sales closed in September, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

It's probably just me, and my writing is surely littered with the same sort of confusion, but identifying the subject of the second part of the sentence could have been made much easier:

Temporary problems in the mortgage market are easing and are expected to free some pent-up demand, but these problems disrupted existing-home sales and distorted prices on sales closed in September, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Oh well, it's done with now - the meaning was clear enough, though the characterization of current mortgage problems as "temporary" may prove to be not only premature, but incorrect.

The plunging sales volume is sure to stop at least a few new real estate office construction projects in their tracks. While most individuals could(n't) care less about sales volume, it is sales volume and commissions that the real estate trade group cares about most.

According to this report from Econoday, the number of sales (and the number of commissions) has been falling dramatically in recent months, taking a big turn for the worse in September.


There will probably be an uptick in sales next month or the month after and more calls will be heard that "the bottom is in".

Shouldn't Alan Greenspan be calling for another bottom in the housing market soon?