…

…

Coast create hurried examination Sophie Sweet. True european heating bigboobsalert figure apparent an edward! …

Teny on since span nude animated girls Vancouver. Viddeo leaders leaves, asking reasonable. …

Motives, raw Tupsa heavily missile opportunity action. Arlene “young teen cumshots” consideration desired child’s Sanyd Style eve? …

Prime areas like cupertino, palo alto etc will start
cracking when GOOG, YHOO, INTC, ORCL etc announce
poor results and layoffs in the coming quarters. CSCO
lead the pack with a dire forecast last week

Santana Row has that parking structure, I guess that was all full …..

I like the cool old houses around that part of town.

Actually I was somewhat serious. I had to go to Santana Row a few weekends ago in the evening, and it was a royal pain in the ass.getting a parking spot.

Similarly, I was at stanford mall the other day – getting a parking spot was also a royal pain in the ass.

People were circling looking for spots.

Who’s to blame for the housing slowdown? Articles have looked at a number of factors: The easy availability of credit (”How Credit Got So Easy and Why It’s Tightening”), consumers who couldn’t refinance adjustable rate mortgages (”One Family’s Journey Into a Subprime Trap”), ratings companies that didn’t move quickly enough to downgrade mortgage securities (”How Ratings’ Firms Calls Fueled Subprime Mess”).

In today’s New York Times, Robert Toll, the chief executive of luxury home builder Toll Brothers fingers another culprit — the media, which he said has scared away home buyers with bad news.

Yesterday, Toll Brothers reported its own bad news. The company announced that sales for the quarter, ended Oct. 31, fell 36%, to $1.17 billion, and that customers backed out of 39% of their orders, the highest rate ever.

“Perhaps as the presidential campaign heats up and moves to the front page, negative articles about housing will move off the front page,” said Mr. Toll. “Then, hopefully, the positive underpinnings of low interest rates, low unemployment and a decent economy will raise new-home-buyer confidence.”

Readers, are the gloomy media reports about the housing market making things worse? –Emily Friedlander
Permalink | Trackback URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2007/11/09/builder-blames-housing-crisis-on-the-media/trackback/
Save & Share: Share on Facebook | Del.icio.us | Digg this | Email This | Print
Read more: Data, Buying
More related content

Comments
Report offensive comments to developmentsblog@wsj.com

Blame the “invisible hand” of supply and demand. In fact, why not arrest and handcuff that god-aweful hand? Bad bad hand…
Comment by Blame game – November 9, 2007 at 11:57 am

Did Mr. Toll REALLY believe this building “boom” would go on indefinitely? Please, spare us the “woe is me”…you had a nice run, now it’s someone elses turn. I think they call it capitalism.
Comment by Ozzie – November 9, 2007 at 12:03 pm

I don’t recall Mr. Toll blaming the media for the bubble that made him richer. Did I miss it?
Comment by freelunch – November 9, 2007 at 12:05 pm

I blame the media for the bad weather we’ve been having- after all if they just said it was nice out, it would be, wouldn’t it?
Comment by sinic – November 9, 2007 at 12:09 pm

The media harps whatever bad news is out there. Sometimes it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Housing. Iraq. US voters want out of Iraq (without understanding the situation, how could we?), congress hears the call and pushes for Sept update to “make decision”, enemy kicks up attacks (seeking US “hearts and minds” for withdrawl support), media runs Iraq death toll nightly, US citizens rally for withdrawl, report comes in, US stays the course, attacks fall off, Iraq isn’t reported nearly as forcefully. A similar thing could definitely happen in housing where buyer/seller expectations/impressions set the price. Granted, housing has to cap somewhere with income but the media clearly can influence impressions and hasten/deepen the effect. Fun!
Comment by Keith – November 9, 2007 at 12:16 pm

My question to Mr Toll is what is he really doing to help correct this mess? Has he curtailed construction or is he just going ahead completing houses and blaming everyone else
Comment by jimsep – November 9, 2007 at 12:22 pm

Amazing when the CEO of a large builder doesn’t understand the basics of a real-estate cycle that’s been seen before. No wonder the company’s been hurt more by the market dip than some of their competition.
Comment by waaaah – November 9, 2007 at 12:23 pm

The housing industry goes through this about every 10 years (as does the lastest Wall Street finance debacle – Where’s Mike Milken today?). American perception is that when it’s good it will be good forever, and when it’s bad it will be bad forever. So goes the life of many American homeowners, investors, etc.
Comment by nmr – November 9, 2007 at 12:28 pm

. . it’s pretty clear he thought there were excesses and a downturn was coming. Unfortunately he believed his own and the industry’s BS that the industry/economy had “changed” (just like the Internet Economy remember) and then did little to prepare for the inevitable swoon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/magazine/16brothers.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Comment by Read this . . . – November 9, 2007 at 12:29 pm

The media exacerbates everything due to its inherently repetitious manner of reporting. It is not their intention to do so, it is just reporting the news at 5 and 11pm every day, and in the newspapers and on the web. If one hears something often enough, it takes on a truth of its own, even if an impartial analysis reveals it to untrue, or less accurate than the reporting alone might make one believe.
The issue of whether to invest in the stock of a company or in a home (to buy or not to buy, etc.) is often controlled by fear and greed. Generally, investors dread the loss of money and the accompanying feeling of making a bad decision more than they enjoy the contrary feeling of making money. The media, by repeating the bad news over and over, even though it is factual, makes it that more difficult for the average person to swim against the tide of bad news and make what might be a very timely investment. It is always easier to do nothing.
Comment by AlanF – November 9, 2007 at 12:38 pm

Mr Toll had no problem when the media was cheering the housing market on

Like the 2005 Time cover story” Home Sweet Home Why We Are Going Gaa Gaa Goo Goo Over Real Estate
Comment by wall street guy – November 9, 2007 at 12:38 pm

Totally agree with waaaah. Mr. Toll does not exhibit any understanding of real estate market cycle, nor does he seem familiar with risk management concept. He should be fired, just like all of those other goons…
Comment by Blame game – November 9, 2007 at 1:01 pm

Yes the housing industry has cycles, but the media and its far left slants on everything from the big scam (global warming) to the housing crisis. With interest rates as low as they are, there is no reason for this.Yes loans should be proper,but the lefties are responsible and cause much more damage than good while lining their pockets.
Comment by Jim Heinz – November 9, 2007 at 1:16 pm

To Jim Heinz: Lefties? Are those the ones holding their phones in left hand?
Comment by Blame game – November 9, 2007 at 1:41 pm

Just look at your headline! Gross exaggeration. He didn’t blame the media, he only said that media stories influenced consumers negatively; i.e., conributed somewhat to the downturn. That seems undeniable to me.
Comment by Pete – November 9, 2007 at 1:55 pm

Mr. Toll is a cheerleader, what do you expect the guy to do?

He is attempting to salvage his company from the upcoming slaughter.

Cannot blame or fault the guy that much.

If Toll does not shore up its balance sheet instead of pointing fingers (or placing innuendos, as someone typed), they may not be a going concern come Q4 2008.
Comment by JIm – November 9, 2007

I cannot imagine anyone considering Santana Row to be any kind of a destination, we have strip malls out here in red/flyover country that are more interesting.

Ha ha ha! Tons of my “homeowner” friends had been saying how refi’ing before ARM reset works wonders, even a few months ago. And the Bay area RE never goes down.

Well, tech stock has gone down lately. But it’s really surprising how “rich” people have continued to buy real estates in the current market over here.