Another case of 'Newsvertising', this time in the National Post

On the weekend we shared with you the cover of the Financial Post Magazine (pictured above).

It appeared on September 3rd, 2013 in the National Post newspaper and had a stunning headline: "THE SKY IS NOT FALLING - Why real estate doomsayers continue to be wrong"

Pretty powerful message. Forwarded as friendly 'chiding', it represents the quintessential example of media manipulation in real estate today. To the average person, this article appears to be a 'news story'. 

But as one of our faithful readers noticed in the comments section of yesterdays blog post, it's not a news article - it's an adverting feature; an advertisement dressed up to look like a news story.

Online, the article is contained in the "Special Sections' of the National Post (click on all images to enlarge):

For those who follow this blog regularly, when you see 'Special Sections', the spidey senses start to tingle. Google the article headline and you discover EXACTLY what this article is:

That's right. Google makes it very clear it's not a news article, its a newspaper ad, the content written by a real estate shill who paid to have it inserted in the paper.

Faithful readers will recall we covered a similar misleading article in the Vancouver Province back on March 26, 2013 and discussed it again here.

Desperate for advertising dollars, the mainstream media is increasingly willing to take paid advertisements and present them as actual news stories with little or no indication that what you are reading isn't real news.

Naturally the real estate industry will pay handsomely for the chance to mold public opinion under the guise of legitimate news. Who wouldn't when you dealing with an industry where Billions of dollars are spent based on 'consumer confidence'?

But when the print media sells it's journalistic integrity like this, is it all that surprising that they have become an unsustainable proposition?

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Vancouver Market in "Full Retreat"

For the past few years the central focus of the real estate market has been the all important "buyer confidence."

Hundreds of hours through press releases and millions of dollars have been spent by the Real Estate Industry on advertising, etc.  All to build up that crucial "buyer confidence."

And a crucial component of massaging that confidence has been the mainstream media (MSM).

While there have been countless articles this year about Housing Bubbles and the threat of a collapsing market, the person on the street has been somewhat oblivious to what is going on.

But this may well be the week in which Joe Q. Public truly begins to take notice of those negative real estate stories in the MSM.

I don't think anything can compare to the headlines that have come out in today's papers.

You can't ignore paper's like the National Post screaming "Vancouver real estate market in full retreat", it's a moniker that says it all:

Realtors are calling it a “summer lull,” but the latest statistics show Vancouver’s housing market is mired in a 10-year low for sales with no immediate end in sight.

Each month is starting to look worse than the previous one for Canada’s most expensive housing market as property sales in July dropped 11.2% from June — marking a decade low for activity.

The Industry can't hide the reality of the market any longer.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported the worst July since 2000, and 31.2% below the 10-year average for the month of 3,051 sales.

The board said there were 2,098 residential property sales of detached, attached and apartment properties in July — off 18.4% from a year ago.

Things are getting so bad that Vancouver's average detached home price declined for five straight months now.

The average price is now down 15.7% from February's high of $1,235,244 to sit at $1,041,325 - a plunge of $193,919!

And as the August month kicks into high gear, sales are truly collapsing. Results today for all sectors of the market totalled only 49 sales!!

It's the first sub-50 sales day of the year.

If this keeps up for the rest of the month, July's numbers will look like a sales bonanza in comparison.

What were sales in July like?

Single Family Home sales in July 2011 vs July 2012:

Richmond: -51%

Jul/12 = 60 sales

Jul/11 = 123 sales

West Van: -47%

Jul/12 = 46 sales

Jul/11 = 86 sales

Coquitlam: -43%

Jul/12 = 67 sales

Jul/11 = 100 sales

Van West: -40%

Jul/12 = 83 sales

Jul/11 = 139 sales

Burnaby: -39%

Jul/12 = 58 sales

Jul/11 = 95 sales

North Van: -35%

Jul/12 = 60 sales

JUl/11 = 92 sales

East Van: -24%

Jul/12 = 109 sales

Jul/11 = 144 sales

(Hat Tip VMD)

Ugly doesn't begin to describe these numbers. As the Financial Post screamed, the market is in full retreat.

All that remains for the perfect storm is seller panic.

And the dog days of Summer may well provide the fuel to incite pandemonium.

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Point Roberts: a few minutes drive by car... a world away in Real Estate

Nothing holds a mirror up to the insane housing bubble in the Greater Vancouver area like the isolated 1200-hectare U.S. peninsula community of Point Roberts, Washington.

The small little enclave of U.S. land is only accessible by crossing the regular US/Canada border, travelling across the southern portion of the Lower Mainland of Vancouver, and then accessing the peninsula which is located directly south of Tsawwassen, a suburb community of Vancouver. On a good day it's a 20 minute commute from the city limits of Vancouver proper.

Point Roberts is a community of about 1,300 people. It owes its existence to the 1846 Oregon Treaty, which divided the Pacific Northwest along the 49th parallel.

But drawing the border in such an arbitrary manner unwittingly sealed off Point Roberts from the rest of the United States.

After the Treaty was signed, British colonial authorities offered a more accessible plot of territory in exchange for the stranded peninsula, but the offer was stubbornly ignored by American officials.

So Point Roberts exists as a small 1200 hectare Island of America located within the natural geographic confines of British Columbia's Lower Mainland.

And while it is 'officially' the United States, hectares upon hectares of Point Roberts are owned by Canadians who were looking for cheap vacation homes in the shadow of Vancouver.

Why cheap?

Because despite being in the shadow of the largest housing bubble in North America, Point Roberts is no where near as bubblicious as real estate located 2 minutes north of the border.

As the National Post noted today, a recent listing on a Point Roberts Real Estate website lists a three-bedroom country home perched on a full acre for only $800,000.

In Tsawwassen, $800,000 only buys you an empty quarter-acre lot.

In Vancouver proper, it barely buys a two-bedroom condo on the fringes of downtown.

It is the most glaring reality check for Vancouver's insane housing bubble.

While Vancouverites have watched their city became one of the most expensive places to own a home in North America, Point Roberts land prices have dropped about 30 to 40% since 2008

As local Point Roberts real estate agent Jim Julius noted to the National Post, “there is a global recession going on, after all.”

You don't say? I wonder how much longer before those who live here fully understand this fact?

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