The distinction I’m drawing is the what is selling is the most distressed sector of the market People are buying what they perceive as a ‘good deal’, thus that middle number will be much lower.

It does not mean that every home has fallen 31% in value. The median number has fallen that much – but if you look at sale prices in some of the other sectors of the market, particularly the sale prices that are in some of the less distressed sectors, the fall has not been as steep as the median would indicate – not to say at all that there still is not a significant decline.

Conversely, in some of the hardest hit sectors of the market, the prices have fallen even more than the drop in median sales price since the peak. Some areas have seen as high as a 50%+ fall off peak pricing.

I just think it’s important not to forget what ‘median’ implies and to examine the numbers in that context.

Thanks for reading Peyton. Happy Holidays to you guys!

Just a thought on the median home price thing. I think it actually does mean that the median house price is dropping. The house was sold, and if there had been enough money out there that someone could afford to pay a higher price, they would have. Short sales and foreclosures are a bid process, per my understanding.

So while the inventory may have been distressed, it still is an accurate reflection of what people are willing to pay now that we know how hyper inflated all the housing prices were.