Market glossary · Reviewed August 25, 2026
These short definitions keep recurring market terms useful without pretending that one statistic can answer a property question by itself.
Term
What it measures: A property currently offered for sale and available to buyers.
What it does not establish: It does not show whether the home will sell at its asking price.
Why a homeowner might care: It shows the alternatives a buyer can choose today.
Term
What it measures: A property newly added to the active market during the stated period.
What it does not establish: It does not guarantee fresh buyer demand.
Why a homeowner might care: It can change the amount of competition a seller faces.
Term
What it measures: A property reported as under contract or pending in the source system.
What it does not establish: It does not reveal every final term or guarantee closing.
Why a homeowner might care: It offers a timely clue about what buyers are choosing.
Term
What it measures: A completed transaction recorded for the stated period.
What it does not establish: It is historical evidence, not a promise of today’s value.
Why a homeowner might care: It anchors the pricing conversation in observed outcomes.
Term
What it measures: The middle value in an ordered set of observations.
What it does not establish: It is not the average and does not describe every property.
Why a homeowner might care: It reduces the influence of unusually high or low observations.
Term
What it measures: The number of days a listing has been exposed under the source definition.
What it does not establish: It may differ from days to contract and can vary by source rules.
Why a homeowner might care: It helps explain pace and the cost of waiting.
Term
What it measures: A supply-to-demand pace measure estimating how long current inventory would last at the stated sales rate.
What it does not establish: It is not a forecast or a property-specific timeline.
Why a homeowner might care: It helps frame how much choice and competition may exist.
Term
What it measures: A decrease from a prior asking price recorded by the source.
What it does not establish: It does not prove the original price was unreasonable.
Why a homeowner might care: It can reveal changing buyer response or seller positioning.
Term
What it measures: Closed sale price compared with the relevant list-price definition.
What it does not establish: It does not include every concession or seller cost.
Why a homeowner might care: It helps frame negotiation pressure.
Term
What it measures: A credit, rate buydown, repair allowance, or other seller contribution reported by the source.
What it does not establish: It does not mean every property receives the same terms.
Why a homeowner might care: It changes the net outcome behind the headline price.
Term
What it measures: A recent sale selected because its location, type, size, condition, and timing make it useful for comparison.
What it does not establish: No comp is identical and a comp is not an appraisal by itself.
Why a homeowner might care: It helps translate market evidence to a specific property.
Term
What it measures: A defined range of asking or sale prices used for a like-for-like comparison.
What it does not establish: It does not replace property-type and condition review.
Why a homeowner might care: Buyer choice and competition can change sharply by band.
Term
What it measures: A Census statistical area designed to approximate ZIP Code geography.
What it does not establish: It is not necessarily the same as a USPS delivery ZIP or a municipality.
Why a homeowner might care: It lets market data be compared without pretending ZIP boundaries are perfect.
Term
What it measures: A multi-county market definition used by the cited source.
What it does not establish: It does not describe every city, ZIP, or property equally.
Why a homeowner might care: It provides broad direction before the analysis narrows.
Term
What it measures: A statistical estimate produced from a model and available data.
What it does not establish: It is not a guaranteed sale price, appraisal, or substitute for property review.
Why a homeowner might care: It can be one reference point among stronger property-specific evidence.
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