The media and the market - fact or fiction
Today, the Chronicle Herald carried an article whose headline indicated that the real estate market is in a slump. What the article FAILED TO NOTE is that the slump is a national statistic. It did not differentiate between the market in Nova Scotia and the market in the larger centres such as Toronto and Vancouver.
Nova Scotia housing sales are down only 9.1% from last year. Compare that to the decrease in 2009 after the boom of the previous 5 years. The lower number of sales this year can be attributed to several issues such as the removal of the 100% mortgage, slightly higher interest rates and sales that took place before the HST increase. However, the Nova Scotia real estate market is not "in the basement." It's alive and doing well!
The media has a nasty habit of causing panic by highlighting the most negative factors in a situation and neglecting altogether the positive! The media uses quotes by authorities in a given field, then adds its own opinion, making the authority appear to support the spin it wants to put on the facts. The media blows issues out of proportion to increase readership. What the media doesn't do is tell you the truth in a factual manner. Yes, they do tell the "truth" but it's a truth of convenience - not of fact and proof. Twists and turns, questionable wording and ambiguity all lend to the misconceptions they create! And, because it's "media", people tend to believe what they read. This, of course, leads to mass confusion and distress.
It is time for the miscommunication to stop. It is time for the consumer to speak out against this type of "truth" and demand honesty, integrity and accuracy in all reporting.