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[redding]

In the course of my research I have come across a claim that a particular housing development was either "affordable" or "low income housing," but (especially for the area) the numbers seem extraordinarily high to me.

I was wondering whether anyone knows of a reliable source for current median home prices.  Ideally I could come up with comparative figures for one US city proper and its suburbs as separate numbers.  I can find some estimates on websites like Money magazine, but am not sure I can trust these sources.

Any ideas?

[croaker]

This one's fairly recent
http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/16/real_estate/home_prices_fall_again/index.htm?postversion=2007081610

Yahoo real estate gives you a breakdown of houses recently sold within certain zip codes.

[shrek]

zillow.com

[redding]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I have been going to several of this kind of site, but the numbers vary quite a bit.  They do help give me a basic idea, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable citing them in a scholarly piece.  Also, they usually only cover the metropolitan area and don't limit it to the city proper. 

What do the quantitative social scientists among you use when you need a figure like this?  Does the government provide data like this?

[larryc]

Go to a Google map of the area, then on the right-hand pane toggle the buttons to show current real estate for sale. Yahoo has something similar.

[2nd_career]

You want access ot the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database.

Contact a real estate agent. S/he will have access to the full Multiple Listing Service database. It will have sale (as well as listing price) for everything in the area and stretch back several years. It can be broken out by zip code, sometimes area if the town has distinct named neighborhoods, size and type of house, etc.

The National Association of Realtors will likely have some fairly specific rules about the use of the data so there will likely be negotiations before you actually get access to the raw data.

The Wikipedia entry for MLS has some useful links.

Another, less convenient but public source of data is the local county (or whatever government body is in charge of real estate taxes) record office. A very few have websites, but somewhere will be an office where all the real estate transaction for that area are recorded. Its public information so it should be free - the trick will be locating the office and figuring out their filing system.

[coneflower]

Try this site for metro data:  http://www.realtor.org/Research.nsf/Pages/MetroPrice
Also, census.gov has data on median home ownership costs

[chamaecyparis]

The US Bureau of the Census has reams of info about housing matters.  You might start at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing.html

The American Community Survey (ACS) branch of the census does yearly sampling so you might get more recent info there; click through from www.census.gov. 

("Place" is the census category for a city/town (not metro region) if it is important to see data by local jurisdiction.)

MLS data is skewed because it is based on actual sales, not values of homes and what they WOULD sell for if on the market.  It can also be skewed if a big development comes onto the market at a particular time.

You should also be able to get city/town median home VALUE from the assessors department in the local jurisdiction.

[redding]

Bingo!  Thanks so much for your help.