Nearly every day we hear about the “median Sale Price” of real estate and how it is up or down. It’s often it is used as a barometer of the real estate market. “Well there is good and bad news in the real estate market”. “The number of sales has increased, but the values are down as the median sale price has slipped”. There are market stats for everything but the median sales price for real estate is just that the exact middle price for which real estate sold.
An actual example could be 50 homes that sold for $1.00, one that sold for $50,000 and 50 that sold for $100,000,000 and more. The median sale price is $50,000. While it is in fact the median and this is an extreme example, it really has nothing to do with the value of an individual property.
Additionally we don’t believe it’s a good market barometer. The problem really is that there is not a good gauge of real estate values unless you get into the local market and even then the median price is really a general observation. To illustrate take it one step further. In a particular subdivision in Saint Louis Missouri, 5 homes sold in the last 6 months. Two of them were 1600 sq. ft. split foyer homes selling at $150,000 and $160,000. Two of them were 2400 sq. ft. 2-stories selling at $190,000 and $200,000, and one was a 2,300 sq ft ranch at $225,000. Would you sell your 2,300 square foot ranch home in that subdivision for the median price of $190000?
Each property is unique and it’s nearly impossible to site national or regional statistics that determine the value of your property. Our team evaluates unique individual property every day. Contact us if you would like us to evaluate yours.
