Hyperlocal micromarkets may be the next big housing data shift

The next useful layer of housing data is hyperlocal: subdivisions, developments, buildings and competitive sets that can matter more to an individual property than broad geographic averages. “Real estate is local” may be the industry’s most durable cliché because it is true. The problem is that local can still be remarkably broad. A city contains ZIP codes. A ZIP code can contain multiple neighborhoods. Inside a neighborhood can sit gated subdivisions, townhome developments, master-planned communities, condominium projects and individual buildings — all physically close, yet serving different buyers and experiencing different inventory, pricing and competitive conditions. For an individual property, the question eventually stops being: What is happening locally? It becomes: What is happening in the market this property actually participates in? That is where “local” gives way to hyperlocal — and where residential real estate encounters a much harder data problem. One ZIP code can contain many housing markets ZIP codes are useful. They let us aggregate statistics, communicate location and compare broader local conditions. But they were never designed to define housing markets. The U...