Market still doing well, just not Booming

Let’s skip the pretty words and get to the point
The National Association of Realtors is taking a lot of heat from bloggers and columnists after it uttered these words in a press release announcing the latest home sales numbers last week: "The housing boom has ended but sales at historically healthy levels will continue, and price appreciation will return to normal patterns across much of the country." Whoa. What? Did they say "housing" and "boom " and "ended"?
NAR also lowered its forecast for U.S. home sales in 2006 and noted that the Fed should stop raising interest rates because parts of the housing market are "vulnerable."

Many bloggers were quick to point out that this is a far cry from NAR’s previous words on the subject of bubbles. Jonathon Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel in Manhattan and publisher of the Matrix, writes: "When I read the release on June 6th, I was really disappointed since the NAR should be a leader on housing market issues, not simply provide a politically correct response when they are forced to." Miller was referring to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s proclamation a few weeks prior to NAR’s that the housing boom was over.

However, Motley Fool columnist Seth Jayson points out that the real problem isn’t NAR. "You have to expect these people to spin the facts for their industry, even if that means they’re putting their checkbook concerns ahead of yours, and even if it leaves them begging the Fed for an adherence to shortsighted economic policies that could send inflation spiking," Jayson writes.
"No, the real problem here is the uncritical press out there, which is all too happy to pepper every contrary indicator or bearish remark with an NAR official’s informed-sounding bubble denial."
–Jessica Swesey, Inman News

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