By Steve Roulstone
I have stated on several occasions, and will continue to do so, that the reporting of issues relating to housing are constantly being reported as negative views rather than in the true light of what is actually happening. Nobody is denying that the property market is difficult at the moment (except of course for Letting agents as we have continued to show growth year on year as owners look to our market as the solution to their inability to find a buyer) but several reports all taken from one issue of a property magazine (who will remain nameless!) all have a different reflection of what I actually see happening ‘on the ground’ at the moment.
Firstly, A lifetime of renting.
The initial report states that young people do not want to rent for life, well surprise surprise! I doubt you will get many of the same people stating in a survey that they do not want to work either for the same employer or in the same industry all of their lives, but many will! I find this a report about nothing, the point of which misses me completely. The facts are that more and more people are renting and I can clearly state from my experience and in my opinion, that more and more of them are young professionals, who are just starting out in their first job. But that is all it is, my opinion and this report is nothing more than somebody else’s opinion derived from a survey, which in my opinion is worthless!
New home sells stalling, honestly?
One of the many roles carried out by our organisation is Block Management, looking after sites which nearly always nowadays, have a Management Company to address communal areas and facilities. One of these sites is in the Midlands, near Halesowen and as a new build development I can report is selling well. I had a meeting yesterday with a colleague from Milton Keynes. Because of a similar connection to local builders, we were discussing how well new build was selling in Milton Keynes. So the report looks as though it should be re-titled ‘New homes stall in London’ because clearly that is the content of the report and the Editor should remember that there is life outside of London! But some of the blame is placed on Mortgage supply
Mortgage approvals still falling.
Two points here, if the report above is blamed on mortgage approvals falling and the subject is worthy of a report in its own right, why is the BBC reporting that Mortgage restrictions are falling and secondly did anybody notice the weather last month? Again, in my opinion, this is reporting a negative because the press think bad news sells. It probably does; apparently, we are more liable to read something that scares us rather than something that will make us smile, so headlines reflect this fact. But it seems to me the report would have been more factual to have concluded that Mortgage requirements are easing because of a fall in approvals and that the future could be easier because of this, rather than just concentrating on negative views, after all, the only true reflection of these figures can be made once we see what has happened in January as the backlog that developed has worked its way through.
Assumptions.
For anybody, press or otherwise, to quote definitive statements as news, they should be able to back it up with facts and trends that stand up and only when the news that is reported is factual in this way, will we see a true picture of the subject of the report (for housing is not alone in Having facts taken out of context) and as I state in what I write, this is my opinion (that is what Blog writing is all about) and I do not deny that housing sales are still slow, but it is also my opinion that they will stay that way longer if the only way they are reported about is in a negative fashion.
Recent Comments