DataQuick announces changes to home sale tabulation methodology effective for January 2007

DataQuick has made changes in the way it is tabulating home sales that we should be aware of.

DataQuick is now reporting new home sales in addition to resale homes in its monthly data. The data is being revised back many years. This will result in a roughly 10% average monthly increase in home sale totals.

DataQuick is also switching from a "weighted median" to a "straight median" price. According to this link, "To calculate the weighted median of a set of numbers you need to find the median and if this number does not exist in the recordset, take the average of the values above and below the median instead."

So DataQuick may be have been throwing out a lot of averages at us all along!

You can read the DQNews press release here.

I think the changes will be a huge improvement. I find the timing a little questionable, but I think what DataQuick provides will ultimately be a lot clearer. I strongly disliked not having a comprehensive source of median data for both new and resale homes.