Understanding Home Price Reports: Keywords You Need to Know

Media coverage about the housing market can be confusing.

Whether you’re buying, selling, or a casual observer of the housing market, understanding what’s happening with home prices can be confusing. A large part of that is due to the type of data being used and what the media is choosing to draw your attention to.

Average vs Median

Before looking at geography or time period, you need to know whether you’re looking at the average home price or the median home price.

In short, the average home price takes all the home sale prices in a given time period and location and divides them by the number of home sales, providing the average cost of a home in a given area.

The median home price takes all of the home sale prices in a given time period and location, orders them from least to greatest, and then indicates which price is exactly in the middle of all the home sales.

Both Average and Median prices have uses when reporting housing statistics. Where the average home price may be skewed very high or very low by an outlying (read: very unusual) home price, the median home price is a clear representation of what most of the homes in the area have sold for.

To read more about Median vs Average, read our article that uses examples to explain the difference.

After recognizing whether the prices you’re looking at are the median or average sale prices, the next step is time period. For home prices, there are two different methods used to compare home prices over different time periods: year-over-year and month-over-month.

Time Frame: Year-Over-Year

The comparison measures the change in home prices from the same month or quarter in a previous year. For example, if you’re comparing Year-Over-Year home prices for May 2023, you would compare them to home prices reported in May 2022.

Year-over-year comparisons focus on changes over a one-year period, providing a more comprehensive view of long-term trends. They’re useful for evaluating annual growth rates and determining if the market is generally appreciating or depreciating.

Time Frame: Month-Over-Month

This comparison measures the change in home prices from one month to the next. If you’re comparing month-over-month prices for May 2023, you would compare them to home prices reported in April 2023.

Month-over-month comparisons analyze changes within a single month, giving a more immediate snapshot of short-term movements and price fluctuations. They are often used to track immediate shifts in supply and demand, seasonal trends, or the impact of specific events on the housing market.

Location, Location, Location

Once you clearly understand what type of home price statistic (average or median) and the comparative time frame (month-over-month or year-over-year), the third aspect of housing market numbers is location. Depending on the source of the housing market news, the numbers being reported may be nationwide, regional, statewide, countywide, or local to your town or zip code. Where sometimes those big picture reports from high above that focus on the average national sale price of a home are enlightening, sometimes what you really want to know is the median home price in your local school district.

NY Regional Area Housing Reports

OneKey® MLS is the ONE source real estate marketplace, the Multiple Listing Service where REALTORS® in our NY Regional Coverage area enter and manage home listings and record sales. We pride ourselves on providing accurate and up-to-date data to our REALTORS® and also to homebuyers, sellers, and everyone interested in our regional housing market. For the most up-to-date housing reports, you can visit www.onekeymls.com/market-statistics to see the most recent, and historical, county-specific reports.

Ask a REALTOR® to interpret the numbers.

Realtors® are real estate experts who are comfortable wading in the deep waters of housing reports. They can help you find answers to the question you may be asking – How much is my home worth? Are prices in my desired buying location trending up or down? Is this the right season to put my home on the market for sale?