the average sale of a house decreased from $317,000 in February 2008 to $160,000 in February 2013. What is the absolute change? the relative change is negative___ %

The absolute change is expressed as a positive percentage here, which would be 49.53%. The relative change would be the same answer, only negative since the amount is going down. 

In order to find the percentage of change, you would subtract the new total from the previous total and then divide by the previous. 

[tex] \frac{Previous - New}{Previous} [/tex]

[tex] \frac{317,000 - 160,000}{317,000} [/tex]

[tex] \frac{157,000}{317,000} [/tex]

49.53%