According to the National Association of Realtors report: “The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $201,100 in January, down 4.6 percent from a year ago when the median was $210,900. Because the slowdown in sales is greater in high-cost markets, there is a downward pull to the national median from a year ago when there were relatively more sales in higher priced areas.”

This how the media reported the news:

USA Today

Home sales drop 0.4% in Jan. to lowest level since ‘99
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The pace of existing home sales in the United States fell in January to 4.89 million unit annual rate, the lowest level in nearly a decade, while prices slid and inventories swelled, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Monday that showed continued weakness in the national housing market.

January’s pace was the slowest sales pace on record going back to 1999.

CNN Money

More signs of home sales weakness
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The new year picked up where 2007 left off, as sales of existing homes fell in January to the lowest level in nearly a decade, according to a reading by an industry trade group released Monday.

New York Times
Home Resales and Prices Decline

“Home sales have not hit bottom yet,” Mr. Shapiro said. “Prices haven’t declined enough to stimulate enough demand for sales to turn up.”

Weak demand is likely to put more pressure on home owners to lower their asking price, extending one of the worst slumps in the history of the housing industry. The median price of an American single-family home fell in 2007 for the first time in at least four decades, and sales of those homes dipped 13 percent last year, the biggest annual decline in a quarter-century.

Source: National Bubble Blog