I hate this global trend of talking about real estate prices in yoy terms (without mentioning that, particular in the title), by month. e.g. in this case, pric

I hate this global trend of talking about real estate prices in yoy terms (without mentioning that, particular in the title), by month. e.g. in this case, prices increased in May by 2% percent, such that they ended up 17% higher than May 2020. Yet the title is prices surged 17% in May. It's obvious it should be read differently than your intuition says only if you follow the market. And it's surprising how many people I come across citing this figure who're unaware of the difference and the correct way to interpret this misleading statement. At 17% it becomes more obvious than years with 3% growth, but still. Further, even if they had clearly stated something like "May's RE prices see 17% growth in one year", it can still be a bit misleading. It's easy to imagine a price-curve where a rolling 12-month period can see increasing yoy-growth, even though the market is in decline the last months. And I've seen RE-driven news pieces abuse it in the past stating 'record high prices' based on this yoy growth figure, even though the past few months the market was dropping. There's been a number of studies that show that RE has been strongly driven by market opinion/expectations, not just a simple 'demand for housing'. In fact, to 'overbid' means essentially to get comparatively fewer square feet per dollar. As in, overbidding means reducing the feet per dollar you buy. For people who demand housing (square feet), it's interesting that RE pushes people to accept less housing for more money. And it's in part because of a collective craze as people believe prices will keep going up. Interestingly there's more RE per person than ever before. Construction has been outpacing population growth, there's fewer people per home because of this, and homes are getting bigger every year. There's some indications (of course low interest rates are the primary factor) that the RE price craze is causing a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy, and I find that the news is actively contributing to it, looking to publish the most incendiary selections of data. Anyway bit of a rant for just a news article title, but everytime a big paper publishes a piece like this it's always part of the talk at the coffee corner the next day and in my country (Netherlands) there's clear links between the articles/journalists and the largest RE agent association that has 80% of the market. They're always pushing a narrative.