Prices always rise on a monthly basis in September because nice, detached houses are listed then rathre then in July or August. 

Reporting these stats as "good news" is incredibly disingenuous.  On a year-over-year basis, prices continued to fall (from 3% in August to 2.6% in September), and sales were actually flat in September compared with August (6,357 in August and 6,379 in September).  In other words, the Fall market never materialized.  The buyers never came back, unlike a typical Fall. 

Also, in light of the fact that sales were flat in September compared to August, how can the headline refer to a rebound after a "short sales drop"? That's an downright inaccurate!