IMHO, the local SD MSM had a major conflict interest regarding the state of RE in SD and SoCal in general: Real Estate related Ad spending.

I arrived here in SD from Chicago back in the fall of 04 and was shocked at the amount of RE advertising going on here in SD and SoCal. I had never seen anything that so utterly saturated in the media as RE ads here in SD. It was no wonder that papers like the UT didn’t really start digging into this until recently, and too late in my opinion.

Not only was the media here saturated with RE garbage but so was / is the culture here as well. It was, and still is, like a mass housing psychosis that had permeated all levels of society here in SD. I remember getting weird looks when I would ask how people could afford 10 to 11 times income for crappy stucco boxes that wouldn’t last one winter in Chicago. No one had substantive answer for me beyond “it is California, we have nice weather here…”. That is how I found Piggington. It lead me to scour the internet trying to figure out what the hell was going on because none of it made any sense to me.

I think what you get on sites like Piggington is a more forward looking bias. The mainstream media especially as it pertains to the economy is confined to the rear view mirror. They can only report what has happened. The most frustrating time was right at the peak and post peak when Piggingtons and ther bubble bloggers were accurately predicting and discussing the downturn due to the total disconnect from traditional fundamentals and the extreme lax lending while the mainstream media was still reporting on the good times of the boom. Also many journalist that report on RE are not economist or have much interest in the analytical side of economics and they are lazy, they totally rely on the views of their sources who are usually tied to the RE industry and have a vested interest to paint a positive picture. The past year has seen much improved reporting from UT, NC Times, OC Reg, and LA Times…why? because the first signs of the slow down appeared in the rearview mirror. I do think there is a conflict of interest due to the amount of advertising of RE and mortgage companies in the media especially when we are in a gray area like at the peak and post peak. The editors took a long time to allow some critical reporting of the market IMO.

I think many journalist use these web sites as a way to follow RE trends and probably agree with many of the posters on this board from a strict data and analysis point of view. I always wondered how much tension there was behind the scenes with a reporter and their editor of what they could say?? It has definitely been fun to participate in these forums especially when the predictions and forecast of these blogs are proving to be “DEAD ON’ right…for the most part.