West Australian lead para 3 Jan 2009

I will put the paragraph as a quote, then add comments and alternatives. I have fun doing this, and would like to hear from any of you that also have fun working with flabby text.

"Perth's property market is set to post its worst performance in 20 years, with the head of WA's peak real estate body warning that figures out later this month were expected to show prices plunged by about 11 per cent last year."

I liked the image of the head of a peak body, but then got confused about the tense: warning that figures out later this month, expected to show, prices plunged, last year. And "...plunged by about 11 per cent..." is weak.I didn't even mention that a property market cannot post anything, much less use the weak verb form "is set to post". So what are some of the options?

1. The head of WA's peak real estate body said that average property prices dropped by 11 per cent in the last 12 months. This is the biggest drop for the Perth property market in 20 years.
2. Perth property prices dropped by 11 per cent last year, according to the head of WA's peak real estate body. Name, president of REIWA, said that this was the worst price drop in 20 years.

It was only later in the article that the real estate body and its head were named.