Clearance rates are useless because they are submitted voluntarily by RE agents and the REI's.
They are easily manipulated like most statistics but in the case of clearance rates they are manipulated more than most.
Of course they are manipulated. Rationale for RE Agents to pump up clearance rates artificially is clear as an infant's tear:
"Let's create an illusion of property boom, so those vendors stop listing in false expectation of price rises, we get no properties to sell and loose our income. Money is evil. "
I talk ot them everyday, and here is the typical dialog:
Me: So, How is the market?
Agent: Mmmmm... There are still people buying...
Me: Have you got anything new coming that I do not know of?
Agent: Mmmmm.... Not really. It is hard to get listings these days....
Me: In October I remember you were having on average 3-4 viewers at open house. How many you get now?
Agent: Mmmmm... Depends.
Me: Ok, XX, YYYY Street - how many did you have today ?
Agent: Mmmmmm.... 25 as far as I remember
Me: So it looks like property boom?
Agent: Oh NO,NO!!! There will be no property boom for many years to come!!!
Remember this:
Agents do not care about the price they sell for. At 2% commission they get more money selling 3 houses for $500K than 2 houses at $550K. The only thing they care for is number of listings they have. More listings - more chance to make more sales and more chance to condition vendors into accepting low price.