Data says home values rise, but only local agents know what's really happening
As reported in the media recently, real estate data collection companies acknowledge that they need quite a few months’ figures to establish a trend. Mike McCarthy, CEO of the Barry Plant Group, says that this is an important fact for home owners to realise
“Main stream media feature headlines every month trumpeting the percentage rise or fall of property values and this unfortunately causes a difficult dilemma for both buyers and sellers to get an accurate read on the real estate market and impacts on their ability to make informed decisions. But agents on the ground have the ability to accurately spot trends and market fluctuations quickly as they are dealing daily with issues such as consumer confidence, availability of loans and, more importantly, how desirable the suburb is.”
Mr McCarthy stresses that the collation and analysis of data is critical for government planning and business agility, but says:
“To understand what is happening now in the local marketplace, don’t rely just on the figures, and talk to a local agent. There may well be factors that are unique to your area that are not going to be evident in cold statistics. Your local agent is going to be your best source of intelligence on where your local real estate market is heading.”