How much will the housing market affect the congressional elections, which are set to close in a few hours? According to national housing data from Zillow.com, it could have quite an influence, with all but two of the most hotly contested congressional districts showing double-digit drops in home values from their peak levels, as of this summer. That means that a correlation between rocky markets and unseated incumbents could exist. In New York, for example, the first, 13th and 20th districts showed declines of 23.5 percent, 12.7 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively — and each of those congressional zones is also considered a battleground district. TRD

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Housing inventory fell by 2.8 percent in the 27 major metropolitan areas between September and October, according to ZipRealty, a real estate tracking firm. This data is atypical for the season, according to another firm, Zelman & Associates, which told the Wall Street Journal that housing inventory generally goes up in October. Some analysts are attributing this trend to the first-time homebuyer tax credit. Although its impact in places like Manhattan is up for debate, the borough saw a 7.6 percent decline in inventory during the same time period.

With the glut of housing data and statistics available, it’s difficult to know which figures give the most accurate representation of home sales and prices. In Manhattan, the disparity between national housing figures, such as average home price and sales, and city numbers can be particularly noticeable. Rather than one national market, there are, in reality, many mini-markets to evaluate, according to broker Douglas Heddings, president of the Manhattan-based Heddings Property Group at Charles Rutenberg Realty. Heddings told Fox Business News that it’s unwise for both homebuyers and mortgage lenders to rely on monthly national data to determine housing trends. The data “can be incredibly confusing to the buying and selling public,” Heddings said. “The lenders looking at all of the [markets] exactly the same is a negative but it is, in fact, the case.”