Real estate bubble coverage overblown

Orange County Register columnist Jon Lansner interviewed Dan Gainor of The Business and Media Institute about what he thinks of the media’s coverage of the downturn in the real estate market.

What follows is an excerpt.

Us: Overall, what do you think of the media’s coverage of the housing/real estate market?

Dan: The media coverage of housing is horrible. When the housing market was booming, we were warned of a “bubble.” When the boom finally slowed, we were warned it would be a disaster. It’s like the housing market is never good. It’s either bad or it soon will be. Even as a strident pessimist, I can’t muster that much negativity. And that “bubble” talk actually started before 9/11. If you had paid attention to it, you would have missed quite a boom.

Us: Do you think the coverage has been any better or worse on a national or regional basis? Since real estate’s essentially a local business, are the regional risks more properly discussed?

Dan: All politics is local, and real estate even more so. I don’t see every region in the U.S., so it’s hard to say. As a former print editor, I think local papers can go too far the opposite direction and cheerlead even in the face of bad news. I think it should be somewhere in between. Here in D.C., the government can expand its budget forever, so the local housing market is a bit skewed.

Read more here.