Markets dent the Dent Prophecy

11 Mar 2014| Posted by: Geoff Baldwin

For years the messiah of doom, Harry Dent, has been predicting Armageddon for the US property market and more recently has included Australian property in his quest to attract audience, however with almost every state in the US currently seeing increases in property prices Harry's argument is seriously dented according to RE/MAX WA MD, Geoff Baldwin. “I have spent the past two weeks firstly attending the RE/MAX International Convention in Las Vegas with agents from 65 countries and all US states, and since meeting with agents in the southern states who confirm that these markets are strong and in some cases booming”, he said. “All but 2 of the mainland states have experienced increases over the past 12 months with some achieving growth as high as 23 percent. “Forced sales are down by around 70 percent and there is a generally a positive feeling right across the market. “It amazes me that people like Dent who have been making money by talking the world's economies and property markets down for years only to be proven wrong time and time again, are still given any degree of credence but I guess there is always an audience for negativity. “The popular consensus in 2008 to 2010 was that our Australian market was also destined for decades of doom however I am happy to say that I, and other rational observers of the economic cycle, remained confident in predicting that we were experiencing just another bump in the road, albeit a fairly large one that took longer to repair. “Our local markets are very much on the up and up and any owner occupier or investor who is listening to people like harry Dent and holding off for the market to crash is sure to be disappointed“, Mr Baldwin said.