There has been a lot of negative news in the media lately about the Oahu housing market.  The media tends to paint a doom and gloom picture.  Finally, we have one of the best articles I have seen written by our local newspapaers, that helps explain a few things, and raises some interesting questions.  It puts into question the true meaning of  “The Median Sales Price”.  Does it really paint an accurate picture?

It is interesting, because the Median Sales Price is used in the media to portray the market and market direction as a whole and in turn influences buyer and seller behavior and habits.   What if we weren’t really using the correct data?  This is interesting because, whenever I sit down with a seller or buyer, we look at the overall island market, but then break it down to their specific neighborhood.   I do this because I already know certain neighborhoods of Oahu are acting very differently from the overall market and differently from other neighborhoods, and to paint a true picture of the market conditions and where their home’s value is, we have to get down to the neighborhood statistics. 

This isn’t really a surprise that this has been brought up, but it makes us ask the question, “Is the right data getting out to the general public? and does it portray an accurate picture of the market?”

I would definitely say no.  Otherwise I would not summarize the market stats.  I would not write about some of the smaller details to look at, if the overall picture was uniform across the island.