The real estate industry is awash in real estate statistics. There are regular reports from government agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Industry trade groups such as the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders also are a source of industry statistics and surveys. There are those companies such as Real Trends, RealtyTrac, Foreclosures.com, Foreclosure.com and DataQuick that collect and crunch real estate numbers and supply information to real estate industry professionals, investors and consumers. Then there are the real estate forecasters, who include trade group staffers and academics.
The series of Inman News articles and interviews about real estate bubble bloggers shed some light on another source of real estate information: Joe Citizen, who stirs, analyzes and dissects industry and government numbers and draws conclusions about market conditions.
So-called "Web 2.0" sites are getting in on this statistics biz, too. Zillow and Trulia, for example, are pumping out new sources of real estate data for consumers. Trulia today announced an API that offers access to real estate price trends and online real estate search behavior for markets across the U.S. Zillow offers quarterly reports for a number of market areas. Various sites also offer features that show popular property searches or search areas – these function as on-the-fly Internet popularity polls. And social networking sites allow users to be the experts and data sources on a range of topics, sharing and comparing their own views and analyses and statistics.
Mark Twain popularized a phrase about the different types of lies: "Lies, damn lies and statistics."
Inman News wants to know what sources of real estate statistics and data are most valuable to industry professionals and to consumers ... and why? Comment here or send e-mail to press@inman.com.
