How would you interpret this headline?

[chunkychoos]

How would you have read this byline on a Sky news app article? (See photo).

I read it and had to read it again a few more times. Surely it should say "....less than it would have done a month ago"? Otherwise you would think that less than a month ago you could buy a house for £6700!

Same way you did. Took me a minute.

I think it's fine and not at all confusing. Headlines have to be written in a way that is economical with the number of words available. Even if it wasn't a headline it wouldn't catch my eye as at all unclear.

I didn't think that because I know the price of houses

I did wonder where this magical £6700 house was located!

I think in the context of it being a headline, where you expect brevity and sometimes for things to be a bit unclear, then it's fine. I did understand it first time but I can also see why you didn't!

I've re-read it about 10 times and I don't get what you're saying at all. I can't parse it in any way that suggests there are properties worth only £6,700.

House hunters could snap up a property for £6,700 less than a month ago, according to data from Rightmove.

Rearrange the words and you get:
According to data from Rightmove, less than a month ago house hunters could snap up a property for £6,700.

I read it once and understood exactly what they meant.

Why would you rearrange the words to get a completely different meaning?

This!

Because I am an editor. I haven't changed the meaning.

"House prices drop £6700 in just one month"

Fixed it, way fewer words. How do I get the job

As this is pedants corner, I will note that a byline gives the name of the reporter. Hem, hem. As you were.

Or, rearrange the words and you get:

A month ago, house hunters could snap up a property for £6,700 less [than current prices], according to data from Rightmove.

Obviously we all know the ideal would be something like ‘according to Rightmove, the average house price has dropped £6k’.

@Coconutter24 , the original is nebulous. You read it one way, I read it differently.

@ResusciAnnie , has the average fallen or does the figure refer to only some properties?

We don’t know that from any of the suggested headlines on this thread, hence I said ‘something like’.

I think that to get your meaning you'd need a comma after the £6,700. It's been done for brevity and it's inelegant but it's obvious what they mean.

Did you read the article? Whether or not it was a mistake surely depends on the actual context of the article.

I had a quick search on right move just now for the lowest priced property in barrow-in-Furness - £10,000. A 1 bed flat in a bad state of repair. I just plucked out Barrow as a place but I’m sure there are cheaper places to buy as well. So just under £7,000 for ‘a property’ somewhere in UK seems quite plausible. But also it feels wrong because “houses are unaffordable” so that makes it headline-worthy.

I don’t think it’s nebulous at all. I’m failing to see how anyone can not understand it when it’s clear what is being said

It's very clear what it means. It takes some mental gymnastics to think it's saying that there were houses available for £6700 in November!

@Coconutter24 , @TheTowerAtMidnight I disagree. The meaning is not clear. It's fairly clear what they are trying to say but it's poor writing.
No mental gymnastics at all needed.

It is ambiguous. I think it's something to do with parsing, but I don't know!

House hunters could snap up a property for £6,700 less than a month ago, according to data from Rightmove. - prices are 6700 less than 4 weeks ago.

House hunters could snap up a property for £6,700 less than a month ago, according to data from Rightmove. - at some point in the last 4 weeks, people were buying houses for a pittance

And just for fun, let's throw a comma in and give a third meaning...
House hunters could snap up a property for £6,700, less than a month ago, according to data from Rightmove. - would mean we can now buy some super cheap properties (which were more expensive a month ago)

The wording is ambiguous but context is everything - very few readers in the UK are going to read it and think you can get a house for “around £6,700.”

(Also, to be pedantic, that’s a standfirst not a byline.)

Same. It’s fine and makes sense to me.