Real Estate Intelligence…

Real Estate Intelligence…

Have you ever noticed the glut of blog posts immediately after the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, or Canadian Real Estate Association, issues their latest statistics, analysis and commentary? Ditto local real estate boards.

Supply and demand is important market information, must have stuff, right?  Why else would just about every blogging REALTOR® possibly want to post this information?

Okay, so perhaps someone can help me; how are you going to use the latest information?

I’m very concerned about the reliability of this information, and here’s why.

In order to measure the total housing supply available (for sale) it is essential to know how many new homes are available for sale that are not listed on MLS®, and yet this vitally important part of the supply equation is missing, along with FSBO homes.

The Lower Mainland encompasses the area of 2 boards, Fraser Valley (FVREB) and Greater Vancouver (REBGV).  These 2 boards combined had >24,000 listings available on the MLS® in September.

It was reported (home builders association) for the month of September that there was a supply of >6,500 new homes for sale in the Lower Mainland of BC.  The new home sales therefore represented an additional 25%+ of total supply, which was not likely factored into any reporting.

To make matters more difficult, the number of new homes has no correlation whatsoever to re-sales on MLS®.  These are significant variable factors that cannot be ignored.

I believe the missing data renders most of the statistics, analysis and commentary, at least when MLS® is reported alone, as meaningless for the public.

The trust worthiest source for sales (demand) nationally is probably directly from the Land Title Offices or Property Taxation Offices across the country.

If you want to have some fun, next time you see one of these reports reproduced on a blog be sure to leave a question. What does this mean? Who is this of value to?

So if you’re a prospective Buyer or Seller, how exactly is this information going to help you in your decision-making?

Is this type of reporting misleading or just outright irresponsible; what is your view?

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