TO hear some people in the [tag]real estate industry[/tag] 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, [tag]real estate[/tag] professionals note that sale prices in much of the country are still higher than they were a year ago.

Many journalists who cover the real estate market said they expected, and were not worried by, criticism from the industry. They said they were more concerned about whether the news media were skeptical enough about the boom while it was continuing. “We were late to the [tag]savings and loan crisis[/tag] and we were definitely late to the [tag]dot-com crash[/tag],” said Bradley J. Inman, publisher of Inman News, a real estate news service, who said he believed that the news media have done a better job covering the housing boom. Some critics say the news media did not include enough contrary viewpoints during the run-up in home prices.

click here for article