They Say Numbers Don’t Lie

While this is essentially true how people interpret those numbers can present a false impression. One should never look at any set of statistics and take them as gospel. One look at the 41 plus percent year over year increase for December should tell you that.

Home prices can vary widely from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. In real estate one needs to know the numbers behind the statistics to understand what they are really saying, especially when looking at changes in the “average” sale prices.

Sounds simple right ! ….. but is it right.  The problem with using averages to gauge changes in value is those extremely high value or low value home sales can and does distort them.

Numbers Don’t Lie But Statistics Can Be “Misleading And/Or Misrepresentative”

The follow excerpt from an article by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) demonstrates why average numbers are a poor indicator of changes in home values.

“Imagine 10 people are at a bar, each of whom earn an annual income of $50,000. There’s no variation in their incomes and the average annual income for the group is $50,000.

Now suppose Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, sits down at the bar and his annual income is, say, $1 billion. The average annual income for the group of 11 is now $90,954,545 – yet no one’s individual salary has changed. The average is still statistically correct, but misleading and/or misrepresentative.” (CREA) Article

Statistics Are What They Are ….. In Real Estate That’s Apples to Oranges

The Real Estate Market Is Local and sometimes hyper-Local.  While Statistics Charts and Graphs may provide an indication of market trends they should not be used to determine value trends in relation to a particular home or vicinity.

The best way to determine the Value of Your Home is a Comparative Market Analysis. To discuss today’s local Uxbridge Real Estate Market Conditions, the current value of your home or the marketing of your Home please Contact Me @ 905.852.6143