Data Source: ARMLS, 1/9/2024

These results are from a Python script designed to analyze real estate sales data, focusing on the appreciation of property values in different cities within the Phoenix Metro area over the course of a year. In simple terms, it helps understand how much the selling price of houses in these cities has increased from January to December of a specific year.

When the script runs, it first loads a detailed list of house sales from a file. This list includes information like the sale price, the city where the house is located, and the date of sale. The script then specifically looks at sales in January and December to compare the prices in these two months. By doing this, it calculates the median, or middle, sale price for each city in both January and December. The median is a type of average that’s useful in real estate because it’s not as influenced by very high or very low prices as the usual average.

After finding these median prices, the script then works out how much the median price has gone up or down by the end of the year. This change is expressed as a percentage, which is a handy way to understand the rate of appreciation. Additionally, the script creates a colorful chart to visually display the top 10 cities where house prices have appreciated the most. This chart makes it easier to see at a glance which cities experienced the highest growth in house prices over the year.

In summary, this script is a valuable tool for getting insights into the real estate market, particularly for understanding how house prices are changing in different areas, which is useful information for potential homebuyers, sellers, and real estate professionals.