Frightening rise in mortgagee sales: Yeah Right

I had to laugh at this headline in New Zealand’s only national newspaper the other day. The story was about the frightening increase in the number of mortgagee sales.

According to the report there was a huge increase in the number of properties going to mortgagee sale and this was a sign that banks were worrying about the market.

The reality is measure was totally unscientific – searching two big property websites for the word mortgagee. Secondly in terms of the actual number of mortgagee sales, compared to number of houses on the market, the figure was quite small.

For a good response to the story it’s worth reading Alistair Helm’s response at Unconditional.

The story is even more stunning as it was bylined to one of the most experienced and awarded business journalists in the country. I do have to wonder whether the editors and sub-editors got hold of the copy, realised they didn’t have a lead for the paper and did a beat up on this.

What concerns me is that some of the mainstream media are having a field day going out and writing headline grabbing stories bagging the property market.

Readers will know I am more positive about the market, or pockets of the market, and try to put a balanced view out there.