patrick.net

The media depends on realtor association data and often quotes it to the public. To people who don't follow housing prices as closely as those on Patrick.net, these press releases are what people rely on to determine how the housing market is doing. Did anyone see this article about how the Illinois Association of Realtors inflated Chicago housing prices within their data? Specifically, their data made it look like median prices were up, even though they were way down. I don't think median prices tell the whole story about the housing market, but it's the factor a lot of people rely on.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-realty-trade-group-overreported-chicago-home-prices-20110711,0,7597129.story

In its official report that has now been discredited, the trade group previously said that the median price of an existing condo sold in Chicago in May was $299,000, compared with $271,150 recorded in May 2010. In fact, the median price was $243,000, compared to a year-ago price of $265,000, according to data from Midwest Real Estate Data LLC, the multiple listing service for the Chicago area.

For instance, the median price of two-bedroom, two-bathroom condos in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood during the first six months of the year was down 10.5 percent on a year-over-year basis, from $380,000 in the first half of 2010 to $340,000 this year, according to information Rojas pulled from Midwest Real Estate Data.

#housing