What is a median price and why do we use it?
The median price is the middle price in a series of sales. For example, if there are 15 sales recorded in a suburb and these are arranged in order from lowest to highest value, then the eighth sale is the median price. In the case where there is an even number of sales in a series, the median is the average of the middle two prices. An average price is different to a median as it is calculated by adding up the value of all the sales and dividing it by the number of sales. Median prices are generally used in property analysis rather than average prices because median prices are unaffected by a few unusually high or low prices that may skew averages. The median represents a more accurate measure of true market activity. Whilst the median provides a general indicator of the trend in property prices for the majority of the market in a suburb, care should be taken when applying the results to an individual property as prices may be influenced by a range of unique factors including age, hous
