The primary question addressed in this paper is how media coverage of the U.S. housing market relates to changes in the housing market. Specifically, does the news about the residential real estate market lag changes in observed changes in the market (representing the case where the media simply reports the news), or does the news lead the market, possibly creating some type of media ìfrenzyî, or do the news and the housing market evolve together? We test Robert Shillerís hypothesis that the media was influential in causing or contributing to the housing boom during the 1996-2005 period. We also test the influence of the media on the sharp downturn in the housing market following 2006. Our data are from a national survey that measures the level of householdsí housing demand and we create a new data set that measures various aspect of media coverage of the housing market. Using a VAR model, we test for relationships between housing demand and the content of the media, paying particular attention to whether this relationship differs comparing booms and busts.