Why the numbers count
I seem to be in a minority in my outrage over the National Association of Realtors numbers mess.
As noted in yesterday's post, NAR recently owned up to overstating home sales by more than 14 percent since the real estate downturn kicked into high gear in 2007.
Basically, the trade organization reported nearly 3 million home sales from 2007 through 2010 that simply never happened.
More seriously, while owning up to the mistake, NAR has stopped short of pledging to thoroughly revamp what appears to be a flawed methodology.
That means we may very well be in for similar surprises in the future.
But reaction in the comments section was muted. Basically, no one believes NAR's numbers in the first place, so what's the big deal?
That's not true, though. The trade organization's numbers are widely reported in the business press and scanned for clues as to the direction of the housing market by many others as well.
Numbers are a basic currency of business journalism - there traditionally haven't been that many organizations that can pull off a national report. Thankfully, that's changing but NAR's numbers are still widely used.
That's why this screw up matters.
I thought Jim In Littleton got it right with this comment.
The NAR spends quite a bit of time/money lobbying Congress and foisting these false numbers as a part of their pitch. Whether you or I believe them or not, they get referenced/used in setting public policy.
