Inaccuracy of Real Estate News & Statistics
The media, masses, and wanna-be investors are in market fear as the City of Calgary releases its property assessment data:
Average Calgary home plunged $20,000 in value last year, as property assessments drop $5 billion overall…
CBC News: January 2, 2020
Overall property assessments in Calgary are down $5 billion compared with last year, driven by declines in residential property values.
The median single family home in Calgary is worth $455,000 this year, compared with $475,000 in 2019, while a median residential condominium is valued at $245,000, down from $255,000.
The biggest drops in value are for higher-end homes.
Those are based on city assessments.
- Historically they have always been a bit off compared to what homes actually buy and sell for.
- You have not actually “lost” money until you sell an asset and realized that loss.
- Averages and medians are just rough figures for particular regions. Each type of property/asset in each of their own classes are unique.
- Real estate statistics have always been dodgy anyway because of limited public information, and sales can vary so much from one month to the next. For example, homes don’t change hands much in the winter compared to the summer.