Good news or bad? For new home sales, depends on how you spin

I’ve criticized the major real estate associations in the past for spinning bad real estate news. The associations have blamed the media for making the housing crisis seem worse than it is. They’ve claimed that the current real estate slump is just a natural correction. And they’ve spent months predicting that we’ve finally reached the bottom of the market.

To me, that’s all spin. The real truth? The housing market is awful. And there’s little hope of a quick recovery.

The National Associaton of Home Builders in a recent press release took this game of spinning negative news into positive to absurd levels.

A recent association release’s headline claimed that home buyers are finally responding to lower housing prices in metro areas. Reading this headline, you’d assume that buyers are snatching up newly built homes, with their lower price tags, in growing numbers.

Now, here’s the actual statistical information cited in the release: Existing-home sales rose from the first quarter in 13 states. Now, if my math is correct, that means existing-home sales didn’t rise in 37 states. To me, this doesn’t seem like buyers responding positively to lower-priced homes.

I know everyone in the real estate industry is tired of the bad news. But let’s not look silly in trying to find that glimmer of hope.