UNEXPECTEDLY! Home Sales Drop 27%, Twice What Was Forecasted.

Plus, the realtors’ spin.

UPDATE: Some frightening charts.

Plus this: “The depth of the collapse suggests that in fact, the housing tax credit was not generating new demand as much as moving demand forward a few months. That means that we’re going to have to work out the aftermath in months of low home sales.” Yep. Like “cash for clunkers,” it was just a form of borrowing against future sales. We’ve had enough of borrowing, I’d think.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Tim Cavanaugh: “Should we be relieved or mad as hell that Treasury Department suits seem to realize their public comments on the economy are baloney?”