By now you probably have heard that prices dropped another 3 percent in January, while the number of sales continues to be strong. Does this mean that the price of each house dropped by 3 percent? How are these numbers determined? As we’ve followed the market, it has become clear that the vast majority of sales are below $300,000. Sales over that amount number in the hundreds, while total sales are over 3000 a month. Of the sales below $300,000, the vast majority are below $200,000. So, as buyers gobble up the good deals, the median and average sales prices go down. Houses valued over $300,000 are simply not selling. If they do, we’ll see the median and average sales price go up. That wouldn’t mean that prices were really going up; higher priced houses would simply be selling.
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