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Chief Economist Out at National Association of Realtors; Who Will Lead the Cheers?

Tom Acitelli — Wed, 02 May 2007 00:42:20 -0400

Few blog headlines recently can top Jonathan Miller's send-off to David Lereah, the departing chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. On his blog Matrix, Mr. Miller, a noted housing analyst in his own right, said good-bye thusly on Tuesday: 'David Lereah Resigns, Spin Takes a Smoke.'

Mr. Lereah has basically been criticized, if not lampooned, for his frequent breathless cheerleading of the national housing market. It was never too bad a time to buy. Quoth Mr. Miller:

He did what he thought he was supposed to do: promote his trade organization through market statistics and commentary. Unfortunately, his style did not translate well when market conditions weakened. He became a cheerleader rather than an insight provider. [bold original]

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday!

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:13:09 -0400

Mr. YSL! [Teller]

Yves Saint Laurent's 75-acre estate, an 1874 doozy off the Normandy Coast, has been reduced from $25.6 million to $19.9. (Why? "It was too much.") We hope his old Fifth Avenue pad does a little bit better. (It can be fashionably yours for a mere $7.75 million.) [Forbes]

Realtor-Mocking Blog Post of the Month: A couple of weeks ago, the Freakonomics geniuses noticed the National Association of Realtors' ego-bruised response to a poll listing realty as the single least prestigious calling. (The NAR's retort doesn't exactly add to the profession's reputation.) "It can't feel good to come in dead last in anything," Freak-man Stephen Dubner wrote, "even a public-opinion survey." [Freakonomics]

Thankfully, the rental market is apparently cooling off after a hellish summer. Will renters have an easier time this winter? "The party might be over for the city's brokers and landlords," writes The Real Deal, "at least for now." [TRD]

Though the "U.S. General Services Administration" doesn't sound like an exciting bunch, they've filled their "influential chief architect post" with a young modernist instead of a classicist (who had been considered a shoe-in). Viva modernity! [Chicago Tribune, via Arch News Now]

- Max Abelson

Death of the ‘Realtor’?

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 14:29:08 -0400

We're a little late on this today, but then we've known about it for a while:

The National Association of Realtors, a national lobby of real-estate brokers, is a bad place to get information about the real estate market.

So at least reports The Walk-Through, the Times' brand-new baby blog about the real-estate market, in a pretty nice little smack-down.

And as always, Jonathan Miller has the definitive take:

Over the years we have relied on this near monopoly of information to gain insight as to the direction of the real estate market. Of course we recognize that this is a trade group and its purpose is to look out for its membership. However, its not the statistics that are creating the gap, its the hard sell that goes along with it.

Our question is pettier: How will Damon Darlin's analysis go over at the Times real-estate desk? Because they've been relying on the NAR a lot lately:

"After married couples, single women now make up the largest segment of home buyers -- 21 percent in 2005, up from 18 percent the year before, in contrast to single men, who make up 9 percent of home buyers, according to a survey published this month by the National Association of Realtors."
(The New York Times, "Our Equity, Ourselves," Jan. 26, 2006)

"Sales of existing homes fell or stayed flat in all four regions of the country, while the total inventory of homes for sale dipped slightly, the National Association of Realtors reported."
(The New York Times, "Home Sales Fell Again In December," Jan. 26, 2006)

"Part of the reason more people divide their time between homes is that more people own second homes. According to the National Association of Realtors, buyers purchased 2.82 million second homes in 2004, up 16 percent from a year earlier."(The New York Times, "Double Nesters," Jan. 19, 2006)

Maybe now the word "Realtor" can finally be scrapped, since it's the N.A.R.-enforced term of art (which is why we try, insofar as we can control anything, to stick with the words "broker" or "agent"--not that you won't catch us out on that.)

- Tom McGeveran