Realty Market: Local broadcaster paints positive picture of Midwest real estate market, citing "new report"
If you watched the news on Channel 13 last night, you saw Erin Kiernan give the glowing housing numbers. She said Midwest sales figures "jumped 10%" compared to an 8% increase nationally. Kiernan also reported that prices increased by a percentage point and that the National Association of Realtors attributed the "spike in sales" to the $8,000 federal tax credit.
The story never mentioned the author of the real estate report, but it's fair to assume the figures were carefully crafted by the N.A.R., a national group that represents real estate professionals, and then regurgitated on the late news.
Localize!
Journalists are often encouraged to put a local angle to national stories to make them more relevant to audiences. In this case, however, no such work was done. In fact, had 10 minutes been invested in some basic research, we'd have learned that things aren't so bright in the metro, where average February sales are off 15.5% from last year and the total sales are down nearly 19%, fueled by 59% fewer transactions.
And in the last 30 days, sales were down by 39.4% over the same period last year and the number of sales represented only 41% of last year's figures.
The housing story doesn't appear on the broadcaster's website.
Polk County Residential Deed Sales - by the numbers
02/23/2010 - 03/22/2010
Qty: 283
Average Sale Price: 141,504
Total sales: 40,045,690
02/23/2009 - 03/22/2009
Qty: 479
Average Sale Price: 138,083
Total sales: 66,141,700
-------------------------------
02/01/2010 - 02/28/2010
Qty: 374
Average: 126,291
Total: 47,232,820
02/01/2009 - 02/28/2009
Qty: 394
Average: 147,673
Total: 58,183,220
The story never mentioned the author of the real estate report, but it's fair to assume the figures were carefully crafted by the N.A.R., a national group that represents real estate professionals, and then regurgitated on the late news.
Localize!
Journalists are often encouraged to put a local angle to national stories to make them more relevant to audiences. In this case, however, no such work was done. In fact, had 10 minutes been invested in some basic research, we'd have learned that things aren't so bright in the metro, where average February sales are off 15.5% from last year and the total sales are down nearly 19%, fueled by 59% fewer transactions.
And in the last 30 days, sales were down by 39.4% over the same period last year and the number of sales represented only 41% of last year's figures.
The housing story doesn't appear on the broadcaster's website.
Polk County Residential Deed Sales - by the numbers
02/23/2010 - 03/22/2010
Qty: 283
Average Sale Price: 141,504
Total sales: 40,045,690
02/23/2009 - 03/22/2009
Qty: 479
Average Sale Price: 138,083
Total sales: 66,141,700
-------------------------------
02/01/2010 - 02/28/2010
Qty: 374
Average: 126,291
Total: 47,232,820
02/01/2009 - 02/28/2009
Qty: 394
Average: 147,673
Total: 58,183,220
