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Sales of existing homes rose by the largest amount in more than five years in September. But analysts cautioned against reading

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问题     Sales of existing homes rose by the largest amount in more than five years in September. But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the gain, noting that it reflected conditions before the latest upheaval in financial markets increased the likelihood of a recession in the overall economy.
    The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose by 5. 5 percent from August to September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million units—far better than the flat results analysts had expected. On an unadjusted basis, sales were up 7. 8 percent from September last year.
    But even with the gain in sales, prices kept falling. The median sales price has dropped to $191,600, down by 9 percent from a year ago. In Richmond, Va. , Jack Jebo sold his three-bedroom house last month for $267,000, after lowering his price $18,000. He carried two mortgages for two months before the house was sold in the Richmond area. "In retrospect,(the experience)probably wasn’t too bad," said Jebo, 32, an attorney. "At the time, it probably felt pretty difficult because we didn’t get an offer before we lowered the price. "
    But analysts said that the current financial crisis, which has contributed to the biggest upheavals on Wall Street since the 1930s, was sending consumer confidence down, unemployment up and had greatly increased the prospects that the country was either in or about to enter a fullblown recession. All these factors were expected to add to the headwinds buffeting housing in the months ahead.
    "In October, mortgage applications sank to six-year lows," said Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets. "This suggests house sales, like the rest of the economy, fell off a cliff because of the worsening credit crunch. "
    Many analysts are predicting that home prices—already down 18 percent nationally from their peak in mid-2006—could decline another 10 percent, as a continued glut of foreclosed homes being dumped on the market depresses prices further.
    The National Association of Realtors estimated that 35 percent to 40 percent of sales currently are distressed sales—either foreclosed homes or short sales in which the owner is selling the house for less than the value of the mortgage.
    Distressed sales are having a big impact in lowering prices in some formerly red-hot sales markets in such regions as the West, where sales prices fell in September by 18.5 percent from a year ago.
    Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, said there were some glimmers of hope that the bottom of the housing slump may be near. He said that a sales turnaround first seen in California was beginning to broaden to other regions of the country including Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Rhode Island.
According to Lawrence Yun, the future of the house sales will
选项 A、remain in the same depressing situation.
B、become worse because of the financial crisis.
C、turn into a good situation in no time.
D、be depressing for a short time and then be better.
答案D
解析 推理判断题。根据题干关键词Lawrence Yun定位至最后一段。根据there were some glim—mers of hope that the bottom of the housing slump may be near可知，房价可能要继续下跌，但是谷底将近。根据第二句可知，目前售房已出现好的兆头且向其他州扩展。由此可见，[D]是正确答案。
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