What does "seasonally adjusted" mean for Real Estate Prices
Heres what NAR said on Realtor.org:
Seasonal Adjustment-Annualized Rate
It is necessary to “annualize” and seasonally-adjust the existing home sales data so that month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter comparisons can be observed without seasonal variances distorting the overall picture.The annual rate for a particular month represents what the total number of sales for a year would be if the relative pace for that month were maintained for 12 consecutive months. Seasonal adjustments, which are determined by using the X-11 Variant created by the Census Bureau, are then used to factor out seasonal variances in resale activity. For example, home sales in the winter months are generally much slower than sales in the summer months, primarily because of differences in weather. These disparities tell us little about actual trends in the housing market because they are mostly a result of seasonal variances. Therefore, we need to remove seasonal variances and create an annualized rate to gain a greater perspective on how the resale market is performing. Seasonally-adjusted annualized figures are reported for both our monthly and quarterly reports. Here is the link: http://www.realtor.org/topics/existing-home-sales/methodology
