Someone's Spoiling the Party, the Housing Market Says

[NVMojo]

Sept. 17

TO hear some people in the real estate industry tell it, one of the biggest problems with the housing market is what is being said about it in the news media.

Agents and industry executives say reporters, editors and news anchors are making a cooling market sound worse than it is. While the number of sales may have dropped from 2005 (which was a record-setting year, the end of a five-year run) and more homes stay on the market longer, real estate professionals note that sale prices in much of the country are still higher than they were a year ago.

Richard A. Smith, vice chairman and president of the Realogy Corporation, the nation’s largest residential real estate broker, said there was a “constant flood of media that is so negative” that it was discouraging many potential buyers and sellers.

“Nobody wants to be foolish in this kind of market,” he said. “No one wants to sell too low or buy too high.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/weekinreview/17bijaj.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

[soothsayer]

1. Yeah, it's all the media's fault. Shoooooor it is.

[fasttense]

2. He never address the huge increase in foreclosures

The only fact submitted to argue away the pop of the housing bubble is that prices of homes today are still higher than a year ago. Well the "real" inflation rate (not the government reported rate) could account for this. He does not even begin to touch on the huge increase in foreclosure rates that has been experienced in the majority of the country.

Public perception is only part of what affects an economy. Bad journalism by itself can not create a bad economy and scoundrels rely too heavily on perceptions of a market to swindle their victims.

[phantom power]

3. The liberal media won't print the *good* news about the housing crash!

Where are all the stories about the foreclosed houses being painted?