DEMAND FOR HOMES DROPS 12%...PENDING HOME SALES UP?...WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?

There was an article written by the OC Register's Jonathan Lansner that was rather pessimistic, citing that a report by Steve Thomas at Altera Real Estate, as of December 9th said, "After remaining the same for the better part of a month, demand dropped by 12% (in the past two weeks)."  My problem with this article was the headline.  If you read on in the quote by Steve Thomas, himself a real estate broker, the statement clarifies itself, "For the remainder of the year and the first few weeks of the New Year, demand will continue to drop. This is cyclically the slowest time of the year for Orange County real estate."  The headline leads you to believe that real estate is once again plunging, that things may become dire once again.  The actual article is merely talking about a cyclical moment in the market, that is experienced every year in varying degrees.  Two weeks later on December 31st, The National Association of Realtors reported that, "the number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose in November, the fourth increase since contract signings hit a low in June. "  In fact, its index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes increased 3.5%.  So, who do you believe?  The NAR would obviously know the number of contracts being signed and that would seem to be a worthy statistic.  No one is saying the market is healthy.  But demand plunging?  It would not seem to be the case.