These guys aren't really RE salesmen, though. They're the guys that give advice to the guys who hold your mortgage. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the bank that holds your mortgage stands to benefit from a downturn in the housing market, in that consumers get locked into payments that are more than their houses are now worth.

But even if the RJ had interviewed academics with no stake in the market, market predictions are 90% talking heads anyway.

the bank only benefits in that houses that sold before a general decrease in value continue to "pay off" at the purchase price. Since thie requires existing mortgages when the market goes down the bank definitely benefits from people buying when the market is high - this also means the mortgages that get locked in will be higher.