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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.
As for "distressed sales" , which of the following statements is true?
选项 A、It occupies 35% to 40% of the whole house sales in the history.
B、It is made up of both the foreclosed homes and short sales.
C、It prevents people from selling their houses too cheaply.
D、It has little influence on the formerly prosperous housing market.
答案B
解析 事实细节题。根据题干关键词“distressed sales”定位至第七、八段。本题可用排除法：[A]“廉价出售房在历史上占售房的35％到40％”与原文“目前35％到40％的房屋出售都是低于市场价的廉价出售”不符；[C]“防止人们便宜卖房”与原文“房屋的拥有者都以低于抵押的价值出售房屋”相悖，故不正确；[D]“对曾经红火的房屋销售市场几乎没有影响”与文中“房屋价格下跌有很大影响”相悖。[B]与原文第七段破折号之后的意思相符，包含the foreclosed homes和short sales两种，故选[B]。
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