Take today's Housing News With a Grain of Salt

First-time buyers purchased 30% of all homes in July;

• Distressed homes accounted for 31% of transactions;

• The month-to month gain was aberrational, marking was the single biggest gain since 1999;

• Total housing inventory rose 7.3% to 4.09 million existing homes a 9.4-month supply;

• National median existing-home price fell 15.1% from July 2008 to $178,400;

For entire article:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/08/strong-seasonal-gains-in-existing-home-sales/