The RICS has been criticised for releasing negative news about the property market.
Antony Calvert, property PR expert and former Parliamentary candidate for the Tories, said the one commodity that all markets need is confidence.
He went on: “And confidence is one commodity that seems to be in precious short supply in the property market.
“Last week RICS, the trade body for those in the property sector, decided they would release a report.
“No doubt someone in their policy team thought this would be a good idea, perhaps justifying their members’ subscriptions.
“I’m not sure what their PR team thought of it, but it certainly didn’t do themselves or their industry much good.
“Essentially this report concluded their survey of members found commercial markets had slumped, and was getting worse, and that the UK economy was heading for recession.
“What uplifting stuff!
“Before the referendum, our industry was laden with gloom from those determined to see us remain in the EU. Project Fear was aimed front and centre at an industry that contributes so much to the UK economy.
“Brexit, we were told, would lead to devastating losses for everyone and everything.
“The housing market would crash to Stone Age levels, London would be emptied overnight of commercial activity and the only thing worth trading in would be tins of baked beans.
“As we are all now discovering, very little of this post-apocalyptic scenario has played out.”
In his blog, Calvert, who heads up his own firm Calvert Communications, said that the weaker pound had helped British exporters, and the FTSE 100 is back above pre-Brexit levels.
He said: “I can imagine the hand wringers at RICS were feeling red faced at that news.”
Calvert said the RICS could “shock, horror, have published some material promoting good news stories in the wake of the referendum result.
“But no, they decided to put their best brogues down on to this fragile market.
“I know we cannot ignore the consequences of voting to leave the EU.
“There will be tough times in the short term, but with record employment and rising wages, a housing market that has actually shown robust activity since the vote and some excellent news on foreign investment into the UK (doubtless helped by the competitive pound) we surely need all hands to the pumps to talk up the economy and not drag it down.
“RICS’s members are, quite rightly, pretty miffed by this report.”
Yesterday, property search agents came under fire for talking down the market.
So, is the RICS report as doom-laden as Calvert says? And should it have been released? Judge for yourselves. EYE writer Marc Shoffman’s report on what the RICS said is the next story.
Comments (2)
And there’s the difference between PR spin and simply reporting the facts. In my experience, the Rics reports have called it right for years. Give me the facts and spare me the PR spin anyday.
100pc agree. If the industry resorts to claptrap nonsense, we’ll very soon take the ‘politician’ stance of not answering questions, half-truths and white lies.
Property is too important an industry to be flowered up, and we need to take it seriously. If people can’t handle it, they shouldn’t get involved in it. PR will have a minor impact on the average Joe – so let’s get a clear picture of what is actually happening and form a strategy around it.
Frankly, I have much more confidence in the market if I have the facts when if it is struggling, than I have confidence in a market that I have no facts on and am being told it is flourishing.