On the ASU median home price numbers, the Arizona Republic was low key about price decreases in some West Valley cities. I expected them to run with it after their June 25th doom and gloom article on the housing market.

El Mirage’s median home price fell from $219,340 in August 2005 to $212,750 last month.

The quote below shows why graphs are so much better than looking at month to month changes.

Mesa’s median used home price in August was $240,000, down from $249,000 in July and flat from a year ago.

Sounds bad. But if you look at the graph below for Mesa, you’ll see that for the first 7 months of the year, Mesa’s median home price was generally increasing, the exact opposite impression given by the quote.