I'm all for words, but sometimes charts get the job done better. That's why I put one together that showed at a glance how home sales in the Baltimore metro area have changed since July of last year.
That's recent history, though, and Wonk reader Ronnie was more interested in a longer horizon. So here you go -- July home sales back to '98, as far as Metropolitan Regional Information Systems' dataset goes:
Economists expected a slump in or around July because everyone rushing to get the first-time homebuyer tax credit closed by June 30 if they could. (That was the settlement deadline until late that night, when Congress extended it three months to help buyers having trouble with short sales, foreclosures and other more time-consuming deals.)
A key question is whether the drop will be temporary or long-lasting.
Here's what June trends look like over the same years: