This is a copy of my posting on the main forum
Trevor McDonald's appalling report on the state of the property market was a disgrace to journalism. It was bigoted, biased, inaccurate and full of lies as it set out on its pre-determined plan to sensationalise the situation without any regard to the facts.
I'm not disputing that the property market in Spain has cooled but there were many things about the programme that iritated me. I'll start with the interview with an estate agent in Murcia called Heather Ward, who claimed, through misty eyes, that she had sold only one property in the last six months, a fact that is hardly surprising considering her apparent total lack of knowledge of the area she was filmed in.
The lady in question was pictured near an awesome town called Calasparra on a development where I bought a villa 15 months ago. The builder is one of the best in Spain and this is a small, unique development which releases just 20 properties a year. Here is a list of the laughable errors she managed to spectacularly make in her 45-second interview.
'Here we see a new property that has never been sold' - WRONG: The villa she referred to was almost certainly on Phase one of the development and the builders have a policy that they would not begin building the next phase until all the villas have been sold. They are on phase six now, but more of that later.
'Behind there, they are still building all the brand new ones and they are not selling. They are stood empty.' WRONG: She is referring to phase five, where I bought a property in 2006. If memory serves that phase sold out in eight weeks. Yes, most of them are empty because they have only been completed (on time) within the last four weeks.
'The minute somebody seems to get in these properties, within months, they are selling and wanting to be out.' WRONG: I have spent several weeks on the development and have made many friends there, perhaps from a dozen different properties and they are all blissfully happy with their villas which are built to the highest specication. I can specifically recall one lady, who has lived there for more than a year, who described the way of life, the development and the town of Calsaparra as 'magical.' Yes, there are properties for sale but not in particularly high numbers.
You should know that all the information I have given is not hearsay or gossip. I learned everything directly from the builder.
It is ironic that the 'expert' estate agent made all these pathetic and inaccurate claims, standing on a piece of high ground which is within 20 yards of the site office which contains, as well as helpful and knowleable staff, a large map of the development with coloured sections depicting properties that have been sold. Perhaps the reporter Jonathan Maitlin could not spare the time to bother to check the facts.
One final example of the bigoted, biased journalism was the shot of the development the viewers saw as the commentator droned on about bad investments. The villas do not include the erection of swimming pools and most owners are installing their own using the services of local builders. Many of the purchasers of villas from the early phases are now fully installed with pools with the avenues completed and looking picturesque, showing the quality craftsmanshift of the builders but, of course, this would not help the programme makers who were determind to depict the development in its worst light. So what did they do? They obviously scoured the development for the latest phase where several pools are being installed, giving the viewer the false impression that the site was unfinished and the builders nowhere to be seen. Yes, buiding is going on but the development is very beautiful and surrounded by a forest and wonderful mountains.
My final complaint is this. I have been a journalist in an award-winning newspaper for more than 20 years. If my newspaper had published a photograph of a housing development in our area, implied it was a bad investment and backed up the story with the wildly inaccurate views of a highly unsuccessful estate agent, we would have been sued for a small fortune. There are obviously a different code of ethics for television - as a newspaper journalist I have to work under strict guidelines of accuracy and fairness.
I have made an official complaint to OFCOM who regulate television programmes and await their reponse. I am sending my comments to the builder, too, and, more importantly, to the progamme makers though I am not anticipating a response from the latter. I will keep you informed of any developments.