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Who is sick of the media spin on real estate?

Seriously, I live in a growth market, and I even have to listen to our local news simply regurgitate what the national news said earlier that day. Our local news fails to give local statistics, and simply says things like, "The average home sale price in the US has declined by X%." They forget to mention the fact that our market (Greenville, SC) has steadily averaged price appreciation of 4.26% per year for the past 5 years. In our market, even 2007 saw an average sale price increase of 4.1% over 2006. Not to mention the fact that the average time to sell a home continues to go down in our market.

It seems like I keep hearing about Stockton, CA too. The news continually talks about falling prices there, with a "15.27% drop average sale price from 2006 to 2007", yet they somehow forget to mention that Stockton, CA has appreciated by 50.15% over 5 years. How about Fresno, CA for that matter? I'm sure the news there can't stop talking about the gloom and doom of an 8.65% drop in average sale price in 1 year, but I'd be willing to bet that the news anchor forgets to mention the 82.92% appreciation over the past 5 year period.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that the national market has seen better days, but I thought everyone was claiming to be fair and balanced. If you look in the Detroit market, they didn't even see the double-digit appreciation that some markets got to enjoy, and their prices still saw a drop of 6.13% from 2006 to 2007.

I guess the bottom line is that Don Imus can get fired (even if just temporarily) for saying something irresponsible without thinking, but where is the justice for Jim Cramer? I know it's hardly the same thing, but I think he said one zip code was doing well during his infamous rant on the Today Show, but apparently he didn't see the OFHEO's House Price Index:

- 175 out of the 291 (60%) metro areas indexed, saw an increase in average sale price 4Q06 to 4Q07.
- 192 out of the 291 (66%) metro areas indexed, saw an increase in average sale price from 2006 to 2007.
- 290 out of the 291 (99.7%) metro areas indexed, saw an increase in average sale price over the past 5 years! That leaves only ONE metro area that saw a decline for the five years leading up to 12/31/07 (see Detroit paragraph above)

Here's a thought, maybe the local news in the 66% of metro areas that appreciated in 2007, should take responsibility, and actually report on their local market. If they wouldn't blab about the national market, and fail to report on their local market, then maybe the quarterly figures in some markets would paint a better picture. After all, I seriously think that even in my market, some buyers and sellers hesitate based on what they hear on the news. Actually, I know it.

Cameron
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Cameron Keegan - Realtor, ASR, ABR
Prudential C. Dan Joyner Realtors
Greenville SC Homes for Sale

~ Whether Buying or Selling: Get on the Fast Track to your new home! ~ GreenvilleFastTrack.com

Posted by Cameron Keegan - Greenville SC Realtor on 03/11/2008 08:25 AM

Comments (11)

media spin, housing crisis, irresponsible journalism, local market, jim cramer, average sale price, real estate crisis

11 Comments on Who is sick of the media spin on real estate?

MAR

2008

I am everyone is in foreclosure and the end of the world is in sight. I guess I will jump off a building real soon.

The masses hear the reports on national averages, or even distorted statistics, and immediately think that is the way their local market is.

-Mark

Lets not get confused by the facts. For some reason the media is insisting on making the market look worse than it is. Sure there are some parts of the country were things are bad. For some reason they want everyone to think they are bad. Good post.

GIVE IT TO THEM! LET THE NUMBERS SPEAL FOR THEMSELVES! Good Luck and Best Wishes

What you call "forgetting" to mention certain statistics or events may not be that at all - it might be intentional.

I am with you. Often it's easier to 'rip and read' the news than to actually get a local angle.

By the way, your market is great because everyone from NJ is fleeing (LOL)

When I saw your headline my reaction was like a kid in school who knows the answer "ME! ME! ME!" It gets a little tiresome explain over and over to potential buyers and sellers who 'keep up with the news' that THAT news doesn't pertain to OUR market. I ask a guy the other day what the weather was doing in Florida or California, he looked at me puzzled and said "I have no idea. I don't live there. AH HA, I said, EXACTLY! you don't live there, so why do you want to base whether or not you sell you property now or later based on their real estate markets"

Of course it's intentional, the positive numbers wouldn't be "impactful" enough for their viewers.

I have actually created a list of e-mail addresses for all the news anchors in our local market. Anytime I hear them say something negative about the national market, without stating our local positive numbers, they all get an e-mail.

I actually just had to send one last Thursday, since on the evening news, they mentioned the foreclosure crisis in the US. Somehow they (intentionally) forgot to mention that Greenville, SC was last on the list of the top 100 metro areas for % of households in foreclosure. (RealtyTrac)

Well said. I live in a resort area of San Bernardino County and although true that San Bernardino is declining, my particular area is not. I urks me that it is reported all the time that we are a declining area.

Good news does not sell and it is all about the viewer-ship and as long as the public wants to listen to the negative news they will keep shoving it down our throats.

We don't buy into the "media" spin. Our efforts are in using everything available to us create our own spin. Real Estate is not global, it is local and locally things are ok....

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