LETTER: Media reporting of property market shows bias

The recent press interview by Housing Minister Grant Shapps in which he argues for a change in national culture so a house is viewed primarily as a home rather than an investment to fund old age is welcome, but I fear it will not come about without a dramatic improvement in the quality of financial journalism in the corporatist mainstream media.

I suspect many of those in the mainstream must have buy-to-let property portfolios, for how else can one explain the constant promotion of property and rampant house price inflation?

The terminology that the media employ when describing changes in house prices shows a degree of bias that is deeply troubling. When prices are rising the media commentators use words such as surging, soaring, leaping and rocketing, yet when prices are falling the words used are easing, slackening or plateauing.

The “expert” commentators the media call upon to bolster their partisan position are invariably those with a vested interest in housing, namely estate agents, surveyors and mortgage lenders. These people can hardly be described as dispassionate observers.

Last week provided a classic example of media misinformation with reports that during 2010 house prices had increased. While this was true in nominal terms, few observers made the point that after adjusting for general price inflation in the economy as a whole, the price of houses has fallen in real terms.

I suspect media commentators accepted at face value the points and views highlighted in the statements released to the press by the organisations (many with vested interests) behind these indices. If this was so, it amounts to a failure of journalism.

I doubt this situation will change any day soon and I fear as a nation we are condemned to living in a world where the mainstream media continues to peddle nonsense as daily they go about their business of converting myth into fact.

KEVIN HEY

Castle Road, Colne