One of the most popular and easy ways for property data companies to generate some free publicity for their business is to ask their computer system to spit out a list of locations which have had – allegedly –extraordinary price growth recently. It’s alarming how often these lists are published by media – because examination of the locations on the list shows that they are very often completely bogus.

The media headline, based on the research company’s list, might claim that property values have doubled in these locations in a very short time span – but usually, far too often, nothing of the sort has taken place.

What this means is that Australian consumers are being misled, yet again, by sham data from careless research companies and shallow media.

The common denominator of all the people involved in this sham is that nobody gives a damn.