Surely pride is the reason residential real estate is not selling as briskly as it once did. Certainly sellers don’t want to admit to taking a loss if they sell, and buyers each want to believe they bought at the bottom of the market.

The answer must be pride.

If not pride, perhaps sellers are simply unreasonable for refusing to reduce prices and bargain-hunting buyers are simply enjoying the hunt for a bargain. No, it must be that the laws of economics are so inexorable that they alone control market conditions.

Yet another possibility is that published speculation about the desirability of available properties, or about properties being overpriced and not worth buying, or about the declining market lasting for years to come all have something to do with a buyer’s willingness to buy or a seller’s willingness to offer a property for sale. Are such proclamations, mostly claiming to be news or expert testimony, the driving force behind buyer and seller decisions, or are their decisions made independent of such influence?

Much of the statistical housing information being published daily seems accurate. Inventory is down, sales and median prices are down and homes take longer to sell than they once did. All true.

Also true, but not often repeated, is that interest rates are among the lowest in the past 40 years and there are plenty of very nice homes for sale at fairly reasonable, yet perhaps not bargain, prices. Why is it, do you suppose, that the bad news is reiterated ad nauseam while seemingly good news is lost in a barrage of negativisms?

Consider the content of much of the published commentary on housing, and on many other issues for that matter. Most accurately report the facts but, unfortunately, most also add discussion more akin to editorial opinions. At least editorial opinions are clearly labeled as opinions, just like this one. The reader or listener understands that not all opinions are valid or correct, and decides for himself or herself how to value each. On the other hand, opinions mixed with facts and labeled as reporting or expert testimony are, in my opinion, typically misleading and potentially dangerous.

So, now I return to the question asked earlier: Are published proclamations claiming to be news or expert testimony the driving force behind decisions, or are buyer and seller decisions made independent of such influence? I leave the answer to you.

We clearly have a serious housing problem. Why the problem occurred or why it continues to exist will be the subject of much public and private commentary long after the problem is solved. It is clear to me, however, that ill-founded speculation will not solve it, and may forestall our willingness to adopt helpful solutions.

My purpose here is simply to suggest that the suppliers of the public discourse take a critical look at their contribution to the problem, and that consumers hone their critical evaluation skills for what they read and hear.

If erroneous facts and misinformed and ill-founded speculation do, in fact, drive some segment of the decision process undertaken by buyers and sellers, a more balanced approach by contributors and a far more critical analysis by consumers may be important elements of a housing recovery.

Peter Casey is broker-owner and CEO of Prudential Wilmot Real Estate in Weston. He is a director of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors.