Realty trade group overreported Chicago home prices

That’s what she says in a new magazine article out Monday. More offices open to the idea of cracking open a cold one on the clock More offices let workers crack open a cold one At Yelp's headquarters in San Francisco, a keg refrigerator provides a never-ending supply of beer to employees, letting them drink as much as they like. It also can undermine the credibility of the Real Estate organizations that compile and disseminate the statistics. The Tribune and other media outlets report that data as part of regular coverage of the housing industry because it provides a pulse of the market. The group believes median prices for both condos and detached single-family homes sold within the city contain errors. We want to make sure there is 100 percent clean data. 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. Looking at a revision of its own information Monday, the association said the median price of a condo in Chicago in May was $249,900, a 7. Still it was far off the mark from its original pronouncement. I know that people watch the news and read the papers and they're confused by the data. When we talk to buyers and sellers, they really don't know what's going on. You can't compare east of Western (Avenue) with west of Western. At least initially, the group's information technology staff believes the error may involve improper coding of sales data and depending on the findings, the group may have to revise its Chicago-specific data for the past 39 months. Midwest Real Estate Data gathers the month's data, generally five to seven days after the end of a month, and generates data files for U. House Stats, which is owned by the national association. State associations like the Illinois group generate reports based on those numbers. We are completely confident in the numbers we gave to (the Illinois Association of Realtors) and we're working with them to help them identify how this discrepancy on their end occurred. It's one piece of data among many that help buyers and sellers make decisons. The average price is less useful as an outlier house on the high end can inflate average prices. You must investigate why that is and what that means for a home you are going to sell or buy. Average selling price would be more useful, but still blemished. Real estate markets are so very local that the best thing you can do is ignore the media and ask a local realtor. To our readers: Registration is required before your comments can be posted. Constructive and respectful comments related to the topic of the story are welcome; abusive, crass or vulgar comments are not. Comments containing vulgar words will be filtered out. Please make sure your language is civil and your comment furthers the conversation. Personal attacks on others who comment are not appropriate. Hateful, racist or threatening comments are not allowed. We encourage you to help us uphold these standards by reporting abuse where appropriate. Ignoring the standards will result in your comment being removed. If warranted, we will take down entire comment boards. Realtors