I’m going to rant for a minute (or two) because this really gets my goat, to use a family-friendly saying. Since the peak, in February the market has slowed. There are significantly fewer properties selling. Part of the problem is the FEAR instilled by the media. “If we write a heading that causes people to be afraid, we will get more views/clicks”. The problem is that they are twisting facts and manipulating words to cause more fear in a sensitive market. Allow me to clearly explain what is really happening in the market, and how some people are misunderstanding.

First, let me start by pointing out there are some people who have been saying for years that the market is going to crash. They have been wrong for many, many years so now they are saying “see, I told you so.” It is as if they feel vindicated and are trying to justify their blog posts and articles for the past 10 years. I am not talking about these people though…

I am talking about the mainstream media who write articles with misleading headings such as “The Market Is Down By 47%”. The problem is when people read this, they think it means that prices have dropped everywhere in Canada by 47%. That is just plain untrue. The truth is that 47% fewer properties are selling in SOME major cities, but not all. In fact, in Hamilton, it is only 27% fewer properties as of July 23 and more like 13% mid-June when the aforementioned article was published (or at least seen by me). In Burlington,  it is a little different with only 12% fewer properties selling as of late July, and 26% fewer in mid-June. The opposite of what was happening in Hamilton.

Regardless of the number of properties, many people are led to believe that prices are down by 47%, and this is just not true either. In Hamilton, they are down by 20% from the peak in February but are still up by 2% from this same time last year. In Burlington,  prices are down by 16% from February but are up by 10% year over year.

What frustrates me is that the fear caused by the power of the media and this misleading information is causing more people to hold off buying or selling. It is making a decision for them by leading them to believe something that is not true. Yes, the market has slowed but prices have not dropped by 47%. In fact, if you bought last year you could still sell your property for more today in some areas. Did you miss the peak? Yes. This is great news for buyers, but not-so-great news for sellers.

My point is this, listen to your Realtor, not some random blog posting you found off Facebook. They make money off people clicking on their posts. They don’t care about you at all, just that you read their article. Next month they are going to have another article for you to read and they will likely try to scare you again.

Yes, we are going through difficult times but the best way to address it is through education and facts, not using the power of the media to generate fear amongst everyone just so you can say “I told you so”.

Rant over.