Victorian Median House Prices: 1997-2008

PB:
The valuer general's valuations went from being too low before 2000, to too high after, when it became a nice big cash cow.
Whilst interesting to see, median prices are useless without local knowledge, valuer general prices are probably worse.

My investing style/personality is such I love the research and discovery/education on areas I choose to invest in. I have never based any investing upon Victorian Valuer-General statistics.

However, knowing the areas I do, I must say I found the VVG's statistics to be fair and reasonable (if not on the conservative side), representation/reflection of what is occuring within the towns and regional cities, that I am quite familiar with.

I find the longterm statistics useful and interesting...but certainly not a replacement of my own due diligence.

Great, as the summary of local government areas...an overview of property sales within an area.

The data and statistics themselves is from settled property sales documents, which is collated by Vic Valuer-General...while there is acknowledgement of regarding data with a good dose of trepidation, this data is actually considered the most authoritive property sales data in Victoria.

Having said that, in a few earlier posts I did make mention of pitfalls to be aware of, eg for sales 10 properties and under there is always a note of this and how it can distort statistics.

I also think it important for newcomers to this site to understand there is opportunity for property investing across a broad range of areas in Victoria, low affordibility entry into investing, learn to give skepticism to relatively shortterm statistics being splashed around...it does not really reflect an area. Thus I look at decades with a little less skepticism.

...and the other thing is when it all boils down, provided people do good research, due diligence, educate themselves and about areas, buy well for their circumstances, it can be regional areas as well as metro. The statistics give a good general overview of much of a muchness...
keep in mind the high enders/top performers, as well as the lowly low end areas....and remember the constant thing is: "change"..

The glory of property investing is that it can be whatever we make of it. 100 investors doing it differently, different areas, regions, styles, but (hopefully) successfully ...my thread here is a contribution to the forum for a place that has shared so much with me...some info, something to chuck in the property investing knicker draw...some will find it interesting, some notso..

I'll just post up a refresher on a point Bayview raised a while ago, (earlier in this thread), about his perception of median house price values:

BayView:
Quote:
Is it just me, or does anyone else consider median a useless stat?

Opportunist Our Obsession:

I think you raise valid points about statistics, (perhaps more so in a general context), and the need to apply the old adage: "subject to interpretation".

Long term statistics, I am inclined to give a little more creedence too, and don't forget this pdf document includes (over the decade), a growth per annum..

BV, you are not the only one to question median house price reliability and accuracy btw, and for good reason, we may get new, novice investors, less educated in assessing and weighing up info, so am including here a couple of pro's and con's article links regarding the median data and interpretation, to go with your considerations in your post:

1. From an ANZ information site:

Making sense of property prices

Knowing what a property is really worth is the most important step in negotiating a sale. We explain the terminology behind home prices so you can get started sooner.

from:

http://www.anz.com/Aus/Promo/HomeEss.../Property1.asp

and also:

The pros and cons of relying on median house prices

Most buyers will be familiar with the term median house price as it is commonly used in newspapers and by analysts when referring to property values in particular areas and/or over time.

Expert analysts favour median values because they are less affected by a few unusually high or low sales. This makes the median house price a more accurate indicator of true market activity.

But home buyers should treat median values with caution. Whilst the median house price can be a helpful guide when it comes to purchasing a home at auction or by private treaty, it may not tell the full story. Here are five reasons:

More information at the site, well worth a read
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*NB The pdf data from the Victorian Valuer-General does note and bring to attention if sales have been 10 sales or under for the town/city.

2. Residex, also has a bit of an article, here:

http://www.residex.com.au/index.php?content=article18

We explain medians, and how they're not always a good way of understanding a suburb's true value (see article). It's quite interesting also.
---------------------------------------------------

Actually good time to wack up some other links for folk starting out, and may not be aware of yet.

RPData site: http://reports.rpdata.com.au/propert...australia.html

PropertyValue site: http://www.propertyvalue.com.au/property_statistics.php

Property Web site, has commercial and residential:

http://www.propertyweb.com.au/

Residex: http://www.residex.com.au/

Good old DSE: http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenpt...2575160014B916

REIV is only the Vic link, google for your State:

http://www.reiv.com.au/home/default.asp

Australian Property Investor: http://www.apimagazine.com.au/

Only put up a few, I am sure the forum has some other dedicated link threads, but if someone happens to land in this thread they will get a bit of this and that, and a smidgin of pro's and con's of this and that.

pdf link to 10 year median prices and growth per annum again:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/fil...y suburb.pdf

Do your due diligence for your investing and never hesitate to question why's and wherefore's.
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I reckon someone posted the link to this up a while ago, but as it's an interesting read for Victoria, so, here we go again:

Department of Sustainability and Environment

Property Victoria

...

oh great the link wont stay alive...oh well, consider me to be one of many internet dodo's to share dead links then. Maybe u can cut and paste or color and squeeze?:)

Ha! Even better...simply a matter of going to one of my favorite reading sites:

Department of Sustainability and Environment

Property Titles and Maps

http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/DSE/nrenp...001BAB3-1F69535796D78327CA25751500199934?open

Property Victoria newsletter

Property Victoria is a regular property information publication produced by Land Victoria.

Each edition features different information to help build an authoritative and broad picture of property activity in Victoria.

Topics include state-wide valuation information, median property sales prices and updates on new online property information services.

Distributed by email, Property Victoria provides much sought after property information to media outlets, property analysts, and other stakeholders.

We have Property Newsletters from June 2009 waaaay back...to September 2002.

They are all in pdf format, interesting reading. We now get the lot, not just a failed link to a single pdf...
 
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