Bear with me … I’m trying to make sense of the market.

It seems that we’re back (broadly) at 2004 – 2005 housing prices in Charlottesville.

However, keep in mind that a single family home in the Meadowbrook Hills area of the City of Charlottesville is likely going to have a different valuation history than homes in the 29 North/DIA area. There are so many micro-markets in every real estate market that writing consistently about each of them would be impossible … unless I am representing you.

Continuing my theme of looking at the Charlottesville real estate market data from a longer point of view, lest we track the housing market too closely …

Single family home median prices for Charlottesville MSA:

Attached home median prices for Charlottesville MSA:

I left off Greene and Louisa as they have negligible attached home inventories.Briefly:

Single Family Homes, 2011 vs 2010 for the first five months:

Albemarle: down 7%
Charlottesville: down 6.5%
Fluvanna: Up 2%
Greene: Flat
Louisa: down 33%
Nelson: down 7%

Attached Homes’ median prices 2011 vs 2010 for the first five months:

Albemarle: down 14%
Charlottesville: down 5% (based on 11 closed transactions versus 17 in 2010)

One of the idiosyncrasies with the MLS data is that one person can pull the data one way and get one result and another can pull it a different way and get a different result; this is one way that I say when we look at the data from this level we should look at the trends and think in round numbers …

I know you have to scroll …

Single family home median prices for Charlottesville MSA:

Attached home median prices:

And for kicks and giggles –

Why do I write all these posts about Charlottesville real estate market statistics and data? Because the data is the only truism, and good, accurate, useful, timely data and information matter.

Timely and accurate information, provided on a local level with a real-world perspective, is the real estate market’s most important commodity — and the ability of the public, government, financial institutions, investors and real estate professionals to make informed decisions on local housing markets is the cornerstone of an eventual housing recovery.

Isn’t it time we stop trying to drive by, looking in the rear-view mirror, and insist on seeing just the facts, clearly, as they unfold?

Considering the critical role that real estate statistics play in just about every housing-related decision, it is time for our industry to rally around better data. We owe it to ourselves, our clients and our profession to insist on timeliness and clarity while delving into the motivations and methodologies of every metric we disseminate.

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