Everyone bandies around what they consider FACTS and the TRUTH - to support their own agenda. You post numbers that support your position, someone else posts numbers that support their agenda. You interpret the numbers one way, others interpret the numbers a different way.
When it comes to auction clearance rates I don't really care as it only represents a small % of the total sales. Furthermore I don't really care whether the market is up or down today - it will be up overall in 20 years.