The NAR tosses out numbers, sees what sticks

The National Association of Realtors’ forecasts for the housing market are among the most closely watched barometers for the industry nationwide. But the association’s predictions are often wrong — sometimes way wrong. For instance, in January 2005, the NAR predicted that existing home sales “should decline about 2.5 percent” from 2004. Home sales last year, in fact, increased 4.2 percent over 2004. more [NYT] and more [Matrix]