Are Zillow CSV downloads reliable?

Question

I recently downloaded the median sale price zillow data here. When I looked at Detroit, their listed Median Sale Price for end of August was a whopping $262,500, using their SFR download sheet. Yet on Zillow you can see tons of homes for way cheaper, and Dave Meyer's top 10 cashflow markets spreadsheet estimates median sale price at around 62,000$.

Is there something I'm missing here, or is Zillow just way off?

Side note: I'm a developer creating a personal app to help me pick a market (using data from US Census Bureau and other US bureaus). Any questions on software development, feel free to ask me.

Account Closed · Answer

Zillow is not what I'd call a "reliable" source

Zillow slapped with first federal lawsuit from shareholders over home-flipping business flop

https://www.foxbusiness.com/li...

Obed Calixte · Answer

Local REALTOR boards tend to release periodic market statistics (daily, monthly, quarterly etc). You can use those reports as reference.

Below is an example of market statistic report from my local board.

https://pinellasrealtor.org/wp...

In general with large data dumps you'll need to do data cleansing to gain clarity into what is being measured.

Drew Sygit · Answer

@Jason Carrillo most data for Detroit area is actually for the federal MSA (Metro Statistacl Area) of Detroit-Warren-Dearborn.

Nate Sanow · Answer

Zillow is like the whip cream on top of a hot drink. It’s got the esthetics, it’s more user friendly than most other search engines, and it’s data has moments where “accuracy “ could be said in the same breath.

But far too often, I find they have addresses in the wrong location, houses that are no longer there because they were torn down, property that is “for sale” but not at all really for sale, etc.

I’m just saying I don’t hate it or love it but I for darn sure won’t count on it.

Are Zillow CSV downloads reliable?

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