Data Terms and Citation

This page explains how the market figures published across this site were compiled, where they come from, and the terms under which they may be cited or reused.

What these figures are

The market statistics published across this site are aggregate figures compiled from MichRIC MLS data by the Luke Bouman Team. They include median sale prices, median asking prices, counts of sold and active listings, days on market, cumulative days on market, months of supply, price reductions, and ten year comparisons of median price and sales volume. Every figure carries the period it covers and its source in the visible text of the page that publishes it. If a figure appears without a period and a source, treat it as an error and tell us.

Where they come from

The primary source is MichRIC MLS. Some datasets draw on additional boards, and where they do, those boards are named on the page itself: Realcomp, MIRealSource, Greater Lansing REALTORS, Water Wonderland and Northern Great Lakes. The underlying MLS records are the property of those organisations and are not redistributed here. Only aggregate statistics derived from them are published on this site.

How to cite them

Anyone may quote or reference the aggregate figures published on this site, with attribution to the Luke Bouman Team and a link to the page carrying the figure. The citation form is:

Luke Bouman Team, lukebouman.com, MichRIC MLS, [period as stated on the page]

Reporters and researchers are welcome to request the underlying summary tables for any figure published here. Call or text (616) 344-9923.

Limitations

A median is not an estimate of any specific home. Half of the sales in the set closed above it and half below, and a particular property can sit a long way from the middle.

Asking prices and sale prices describe different sets of homes. Asking prices describe homes currently for sale. Sale prices describe homes that closed. No home is in both sets, so the gap between them is not a discount and not a negotiating range.

Counts of listings are not counts of houses. One home can be listed, withdrawn and listed again inside the same period, and it is counted each time. Where a figure counts listing agreements rather than properties, the page states so.

Figures are accurate as of the period each one states. They are not updated continuously, and a figure published for one twelve month window should not be read as describing the market today.