The Empire Strikes Back

The first two weeks of 2012 have given us a plethora of bearish items on Real Estate.

From the nation's largest bank, who tells us it is so concerned about a significant real estate correction that it has stress-tested itself for a 25% collapse... to the uber-R/E optomist Ozzie Jurock who exhorts to his followers:

• "if you are a seller - list now! If you are a buyer, take your time, the market will not run away from you."

The damage all this negative press must be doing to that all important metric known as 'buyer confidence' must be immense.

Let's face it... who wants to catch a falling knife?

So it should come as no surprise that we would see some push back in the media from those most affected by all this negative hype.

And - almost as if on cue - along comes real estate giant Royal LePage to counter these damaging developments to it's business.

Headlining "More Gains in Home Prices Expected", LePage's CEO Phil Soper is quick to dismiss all this negative talk which might lead some to hesitate from buying (and subsequently hurt his company's commissions).

"Widespread calls for a major real estate correction in 2012 simply can't be justified," Soper said in a statement. "The industry has significant momentum entering the year, and buoyed by the stimulative effect of very low interest rates, we expect the market to continue to expand — albeit at a slower pace."

Soper is adamant that Canada's housing market will continue to be strong this year, with rising property values expected in ALL major markets and his company is forecasting prices to rise 2.8% nationwide by the end of 2012.

And bucking the consensus of virtually everyone else, Soper insists that even the pricey housing markets of Vancouver and Toronto will see continued price appreciation this year.

I suspect Royal LePage et-al will now strike back with a massive - and none too subtle - media campaign to influence that all-so-important 'buyer confidence' in a desperate attempt to negate the negative outlook currently being propagated.

Let's see how long before the major papers are 'influenced' into running those cutsie little profiles of prospective buyers who see this as an 'awesome' opportunity and time to buy.

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Email: village_whisperer@live.ca
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