Contact: Mike Ruzicka
414.778.4929 or 414.870.1876
The GMAR would like to make you aware of the fact that the National Association of REALTORS® will be revising its statistics downward in the December 21st existing-home series (EHS) press release. However, this in no way impacts the quality of the statistics or analysis of statistics released by the GMAR or Metro MLS, Inc. for the Southeastern Wisconsin marketplace.
NAR informed the GMAR of its rebenchmarking earlier in the week explaining that, “All major statistical data series go through periodic reviews and revisions to ensure that sampling and methodology keep up with changes in the market, such as population changes in sampled areas, to ensure accuracy, and NAR’s EHS [existing-home series] series is no exception.”
The final existing-home series statistics will be released at 10:00 AM ET next Wednesday, December 21st, however NAR is reporting that, “previous annual existing-home sales numbers will be revised downward.”
NAR explained further that the EHS series has experienced an updrift in sales projections over time because the model for calculating sales rates has gradually diverged with the actual marketplace. That is due to a number of things, including:
* Populations change in sampled areas
* MLS coverage areas increase
* For-sale-by-owner transactions have decreased in many areas
* Some individual sales being recorded in more than one MLS
* Prevalence of flipped properties
Home buyers and sellers are not affected by any revisions to NAR’s existing-home sales data. Median home prices will remain the same, and the data has no impact on consumers who want to buy or sell a home in today’s market.
In the past NAR benchmarked to the decennial Census, most recently to the 2000 Census, because it included home sales data. However, NAR has now developed a new approach using independent sources to allow for more frequent benchmarking. Moving forward, NAR will be able to rebenchmark the EHS data every 1-2 years, which will greatly lessen any data drifts.
