Earlier in the week, a reader sent me a link to a recent Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s (REIV) news release. The release contained the following quote [my emphasis]:
Members report positive expectations for market activity in the March quarter at the same time as a drop of 3–5 per cent in the median house price is expected.
This comment has attracted quite a lot of interest amongst housing bears and was quoted extensively in the comments sections of news sites. I originally wasn’t planning to report on it as I didn’t consider it particularly newsworthy. That was until I found out that the REIV appears to have pulled the article from its website, presumably because of the attention that it had received.
Now when the link is entered into the address bar, an error message appears saying “Cannot find news item”. Has the REIV attempted to cover-up its claim to reduce the risk of ‘talking down’ the housing market? It certainly appears so.
As it turns out, the REIV hasn’t done a very good job in covering up its comment, because its March Real Estate Property Update video (provided below) contains the quote 45 seconds in. Here’s the screen shot:
The REIV must be very concerned about confidence in the housing market if they are ducking and weaving like this.