I couldn't agree more Auto320.
Without going completely off topic and getting the mods down on me like a ton of bricks - this lack of objectivity in regard to foreign property is just one small section of way that the newsprint media has completely shifted , and my opinion , lost focus on the big picture in the last 20 years or so.
The prince of Darkness himself , Mr R Murdoch has a lot to answer for in this regard. His complete and ruthless restucturing of the Sunday Times in the 80's set the template for all of the newsmedia to follow - lots and lots of colour and lifestyle - perfectly designed to appeal to nouveau riche - cut the price that the consumer pays for the end product by selling premium advertising wherever possible to make the product profitable.
Genius - I don't particularly like it - He had probably the finest journalists in Britain when he took over the Times - Fisk , Pilger, etc etc - But the journalistic drawback is that he needed to tone down the commentary to avoid offending the advertisers ,whom he now made his profits from, and get rid of the quality journalism, as this costs money. As a business strategy -Brilliant and that's why the Guy is now sitting on top of the World's most extensive media company. This is the template that all other newsprint has followed in varying degrees since then , with honourable exceptions like the Guardian and London Independent.
As regards commentary and reporting on foreign property investment here - In your dreams if you think that the dailies and Sundays are going to give an honest ,unbiased and critical opinion on the folks that are paying off the massive investment that both the IT and the Indo made in super duper new printing facilities in recent years.
I think you are completely on the money in pointing out the Indo as a major offender - its funny - you read the indo , say this morning and the main part of the paper will have some pretty honest commentary on the wobbles in the property market here and the ERSI report in regard to this - go to the property section - welcome to Shangri la - the weather is permanently sunny and the worst thing that could possibly happen to you is that might have to do a second snag list - unbelievable - its like - "before you enter this section - please disconnect and leave your brain in a jar by the door (with due respect to P McCartney!) .
As regards the whole reporting - if you can call it that - of foreign property and investments - I just want to laugh out loud at some of the nonsense I read - as you said a 9 year old with a copy and paste facility on their Fisher Price PC would do a better job. But then again the section is paid for by the advertisers and they're not paying for objectivity. If you are trying to flog condos in the Florida at the moment , the last thing you want to see is an article beside stating the bald truth that the This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language of the market is going thru the floor with the velocity of a cruise missile currently.
Ditto Spain and Portugal - will there be any mention of the fact that a hell of lot of the building of the costas was done illegally and that the whole of the south of spain is facing a serious permanent drought situation in the immediate future.
Eastern Europe - will there any mention of demographics, future economic prospects bar holding some olympic event in the possible future, crime situations etc etc.
I could go on and on - The simple fact of the matter is that you get what you pay or work for when if comes to objective information in Todays society - If you are able to read between the lines , check out multiple sources ( some of which you will have to pay for - quality journalism costs - look at NY times, FT, etc etc) , check out the place yourself without a seller as a nanny - you will be able to reach a relatively balanced conclusion as to whether the investment has legs and more importantly whether its the investment that is right for you. However in todays" couch potato , I'll take the car 100 yards down the road to the Gym "society in which many have realized massive capital gains due to no more effort than being in the right place at the right time - that would probably sound like way too much effort , particularly when faced with those tempting visions and opportunties being offered for just a phone call in the glossies with the morning paper . Easy come - Easy Go I say