Just my thoughts...

 How skewed can the market data be?  

Every market has submarkets, so when you watch the news about double digit declines- it’s all the markets combined. A cookie-cutter subdivision with a price point of $350,000 and up may show a larger decline than an entry-level subdivision. A contemporary home on a lake may show no decline. Bank-owned properties would most likely show the largest decline. All this within the same timeframe/market. They are examples of submarkets…move-up (mid level), entry level, standard cookie cutter, vacation, lake front, bank-owned, or unique style properties.

So depending on what submarkets posted the most sales it would skew the overall market data.  Knowing this you can now postulate that these huge declines are due, in part, from most sales being bank-owned or entry-level in the past 9 months.  It is a false representation of the market.

-Just my thoughts.