In early 2010, MAR introduced a new “player” to the Massachusetts real estate data landscape: the monthly Massachusetts REALTOR® Market Index and Price Index.  These indices add the voice of the MAR member, who is working with buyers and sellers every day, in a quantifiable way to the real estate market discussion.

 
When a REALTOR® combines MAR closed sales data (sales, median prices, inventory, supply and days on market), MAR pending sales data, and the Market and Price Index data with their unique local perspective, the client is able to get a very comprehensive view of the current real estate market.

 

The numbers are distributed to the media on the third Tuesday of the month.  Read the latest release from July

So how do the indices work?
The Massachusetts REALTOR® Market Index (RMI) and Price Index (RPI) are based on monthly responses from a random sampling of MAR members on the state of the housing market.  More specifically, the survey asks two basic questions pertaining to the real estate business in their market area in Massachusetts.

 
1. How would you describe the current housing market?
2. What are your expectations of home prices over the next year?
 

In addition to these standard questions, the survey each month includes one wildcard question that changes each month and is based on an industry hot topic.  MAR has been collecting this survey data for over two years.
 

The RMI is calculated in the following way.  Respondents indicate whether conditions are, or are expected to be “strong” (100 points), “moderate” (50 points), and “weak” (0 points).  The results are the average score for each question.  A score of 50 is the threshold between a “strong” and a “weak” condition.  Similarly, the question about home prices over the next year (REALTOR® Price Index) is calculated using five categories: “Rise 0-5%” (75 points), “Rise 5%+” (100 points), “Level” (50 points), “Fall 0-5%” (25 points), and “Fall >5%” (0 points).

Would you like to participate in the monthly survey?
MAR is looking for more members to participate each month.  Each survey takes less than five minutes to complete.  If you are interested, send your name, email address to info@marealtor.com and put “survey” in the subject line.  If you respond by September 17, 2010, you’ll be eligible to be randomly selected to win an American Express Gift Card.