Are you really catching a falling knife
The housing market may not be as dismal as portrayed by the media or reports.
With a hat tip to Jim Duncan at Real Central VA, the much maligned (and readers will note that I've been a vocal critic of his all too rosy prognostications) Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR) countered media reporting with facts and context.
Mr. Yun said, "home price trends are divergent, depending upon the source ... Secondly, the Case-Shiller price index — which has been gaining more media coverage as of late — covers only 20 markets. Most of these 20 markets coincidentally tend to be located in California, Florida, and other down markets. As a result, the index shows that most of the 20 markets are experiencing price declines. The media, in turn, then puts up a headline like “Home Values Falling Severely in Most U.S. markets.” For the average busy consumer, a headline like this will surely dampen their confidence about buying a home. This is total distortion of market conditions based on a small selection of falling local metro coverage." (emphasis added)
A few additional highlights. "Perhaps the media is intent on looking for sensationalized headlines. ... Another point that is never covered in the media is the weighing system used by each survey. ... Dr. Shiller, a Yale professor, has a side business in Chicago. ... So naturally he has a financial incentive to “scare” the market."
Please read the complete article.
While I publish Charleston real estate market statistics on this site monthly using both average and median sales prices, no set of statistics is totally pure and accurate. Statistics can in fact be manipulated to arrive at a desired result. My simple promise to you is to provide the most accurate picture of the market that I can and always "tell it like it is".
In my opinion, buying a Charleston home for sale today is not the equivalent of catching a falling knife.