In a recent story [Is the real estate boom cooling off?[IHT]](http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/14/yourmoney/mreal.php) an anecdotal discussion of several market areas were summarized.

Paris: Since July, the market does not have same intensity as before.
Hong Kong: No slowdown but concerns about rising mortgage rates
Japan: Commercial property prices are rising rapidly as residential remains weak.
London: After a rapid rise in prices, more modest growth predicted.
Moscow: Housing prices rising about 12% annually as the introduction of mortgages have extended the boom.
Spain: Prices are projected to rise 12.3% this year down from 17.5% last year.

For the most part, the global real estate market appears to be cooling. But what does that mean? There doesn’t seem to be any real estate corrections occuring at the moment. Its all about the easing of the rate of appreciation and how accurately the media presents this information.

For example in the above IHT story, the headline read: “Spain: Trending Downward” but prices are projected to rise 12.3% this year down from 17.5% last year. 12.3%? Thats seems fairly strong to me.

A more accurate headline would have been: “Spain: Price Growth Eases But Remains Above Historic Norms”