How To Use The Property Price Guide

Newcastle Herald

Friday June 27, 2008

THE data analysed in Hunter Property Price

Guide has been sourced from the records of

the Department of Lands and the Valuer General,

covering the calendar years of 2006 and 2007.

The data has been divided into two categories.

Firstly, sales of freestanding homes are analysed

? these are the majority of sales. Then sales figures

of strata titled dwellings, which include units,

apartments, town houses and villas, are analysed.

The analysis of this data is based on the calendar

years of 2006 and 2007.

Only sales of properties under 2000 square

metres have been included. Including properties

above this size would impact upon the data as they

may actually be rural holdings or more suitable as

development sites and not an accurate refl ection of

local residential values.

Sales data is sourced through the Department

of Lands and the Valuer General. Each sale is then

examined to determine if it is an at arm?s length

transaction. If a sale is suspect, it is removed for the

purpose of this analysis.

This process of individual examination of sales

and manual culling provides a reader with a more

accurate depiction of the performances of their

local districts than simply viewing data supplied by

the Australia Bureau of Statistics. ABS data is not

fi ltered in such a manner and can be misleading,

particularly when looking at small sample sizes.

In each suburb we have calculated a percentage

change in prices, based on the average sale price.

In some instances the rate of change cannot be

relied upon, either because there are too few sales

(generally fewer than fi ve) to give an accurate

average or a series of uncharacteristic sales skewed

the results. These cases have been identifi ed as 'Not

Statistically Reliable' (NSR).

The guide has been divided into distinct regions;

Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, the remainder of

the Hunter and Port Stephens. Some suburbs will

appear twice, such as Adamstown Heights, but the

data is not replicated. In these cases, the suburb is

split between two districts and is dealt with in two

halves.

When reading the Hunter Property Price Guide,

please be aware that is it just that ? a guide.

Change of values can show the performance of a

suburb, but may be erroneous if applied to a single

property. The guide serves to illuminate trends

rather than show individual home values.

THE HERALD Features editor: Alysson Watson Designer: Angela Cuskelly

DUPONTS 98 Hannell Street, Wickham. Phone 4922 0600

www.duponts.net.au.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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