What is a median price?
The median price is the middle price in a series of sales. For example, if 15 sales are recorded in a suburb and arranged in order from the lowest to the highest value, the eighth sale price is the median price. In the case where there is an even number of sales in a series, the median is the average of the middle two prices.
Why do you use median prices?
Median prices are used rather than average prices because median prices are unaffected by a few unusually high or low prices, making them a more accurate indicator of true market activity.
Median prices are a guide to market activity, and the REIV does not intend for median price measures to be regarded as a valuation tool. The assessment of a property’s value is a job for a qualified professional who possesses the knowledge, experience and comparable sales information required to do so.
What is a seasonally adjusted median price?
A seasonally adjusted median price takes into account seasonal, calendar-related movements. For example, median prices generally increase in December quarters and falls in March quarters. To identify and remove the seasonal effects of the median price data, the REIV has run through historical median price data from 1992 for metropolitan and regional houses and from 2002 for regional units.
Why do you revise your median prices?
The REIV continuously collects sales data from its Members and revises medians (and the clearance rate) to ensure accuracy. The median price for the most recent quarter is the preliminary one and is revised in three months time and again in a year.