The real estate market is bad...but that's the good news!

Gotta love Realtors. A month ago they were predicting that we had already found the "bottom" of the real estate market. Now they're telling us, that *right now* is the bottom. This new reassessment is due to the fact that in December 2006, the market for existing housing fell by 8.4%, the biggest decline since in 17 years (or as some of the stories claim, "since 1982" [eh..one of those is wrong I guess].

Note the textbook use of "weasel words" in the following examples:

But economists said they believe the low point for housing has been reached and they are forecasting a slow rebound in 2007.

Just who are these "economists"? Surely not all economists are saying this. In fact, the article cites *just one* economist (David Lereah), who conveniently works for The National Association of Realtors.

And this one:

Because of that optimism, analysts don't believe the slump in housing will drag the overall economy into a recession.

Who are these "analysts"? No mention is made. But apparently they caution us from reading too much into the bad news (the 80% higher than predicted jump in jobless claims), and yet because of the optimism of unknown economists, they don't think we're headed for a recession ("Because of that optimism, analysts don't believe the slump in housing will drag the overall economy into a recession").

Ah..now that's reassuring. Let's all go out and buy a half million dollar closet condo.