The expiration, earlier this year, of a tax-abatement law, 421-a, encouraged residential builders to dig quickly, to achieve grandfather status and thus better financing.
Ms. Adams ascribed the difference to the expiration last year of the federal home-buyer tax credit.
A government tax credit proved wildly popular, but the declines resumed after its expiration a year ago.
The expiration last month of the government's home-buyer tax credit could hurt sales in the coming months.
The lawsuit was filed because of the expiration last month of an order, stemming from a 1997 lawsuit, that froze railroad taxes at 1993-1994 levels.
Two Democratic members of the House of Representatives from Arizona, Ed Pastor and Ann Kirkpatrick, are leading calls for Congressional scrutiny or cancelation of the deal before its planned expiration next year.
With the expiration this year of the payroll tax break, personal income declined sharply last quarter, forcing consumers to draw on their savings to support their spending.
When Mr. Netanyahu declared a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction, they refused to negotiate until just before its expiration last September.
Even now, they are discussing using the debt-ceiling expiration, later this summer or fall, to extort corporation-friendly changes to the tax code that raise no revenue.
S.&P. also expects the Bush administration's tax cuts, passed in 2001 and 2003,to remain in place past their expiration next year because of Republican opposition to their lapsing.
As expected, President René Préval announced that he was indefinitely postponing next month's legislative elections and that he would not seek to extend his term in office beyond its expiration next year.
