Inventory Errors
I apologize for the error in the UrbanDigs Manhattan Data Widget that is powered by Streeteasy.com. It seems a significant amount of addresses became 'hidden' on listings based on changes in some feeds. As you know, the widget that displays data here has some internal rules to add to the accuracy of the data, one of which is that only listings with exact addresses are included. This excludes open listings that are usually advertised as 'W 70s Condo' or 'UES Lux New Dev 1BR', etc..
Rest assured, the SE team is on the issue and hopefully data will be back up soon. Sorry for inconvenience. To answer many questions that I received via email, NO, a foreign buyer did not come in and scoop up 1,300 listings overnight!
If all goes well, UrbanDigs 2.0 will be launched by 4Q of 2009 or so with many new upgrades for monitoring the real time trends in Manhattan real estate. It should be wicked cool, but it will take time to build correctly.
Posted by Donald
Sat Apr 4th, 2009 06:10 PM
Could it be possible that some agencies deliberately changed their feeds to not include addresses to keep the inventory number on UD artifically low? That's my suspcion.
Posted by Noah
Sat Apr 4th, 2009 08:52 PM
if only we were that big...nah, I dont think so. Besides, ill be getting data directly from source if all agreements go well.
Posted by Noah
Sat Apr 4th, 2009 08:58 PM
by tue/wed I think SE team will get this fixed unless its something out of their control, on the other end of the data source
Posted by Inv_watcher
Sat Apr 4th, 2009 11:30 PM
2 words: inventory manipulation
the following discussion explains it
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/9932-ok-im-peeved-more-hijinks-from-the-realtors
Posted by where's SE?
Sun Apr 5th, 2009 08:58 AM
Why is it that SE still hasn't record the sale of my apt back on 12/31/09? It's in the dept of finance records, and I even emailed them about it? It seems like SE is either very lazy or just does a poor job of recording transactions. Either way, unless I'm the only one who's transaction is being ignored by SE, it means that we're getting a fairly incomplete picture of the market. Let's see if and how long it takes them to record the purchase closing I'm making next week.
Posted by anon
Sun Apr 5th, 2009 12:29 PM
this site is by far the best source of information on manhattan real estate. it does not surprise me to see manipulation of data to make it the market appear stronger than it is. anything for the brokers to have more firepower to claim the market is bottoming or strengthening.
noah, keep up the great work and hopefully you can maintain the unbiased commentary. I for one look forward to any further transparency that yu can provide on this market. In my opinion, that would make this site a must read for everyone even remotely thinking of buying or selling in this market, if it is not already.
Posted by octavio
Sun Apr 5th, 2009 10:25 PM
Gosh, and I almost went out there and put some offers. I kept telling myself once the inventory drops I am out buying. Close call I saw this post today.
Posted by Noah
Mon Apr 6th, 2009 08:49 AM
thanks anon 12:29!
Wheres SE? - Hmm, that is strange. No system is perfect and I can tell you that SE mission is a very difficult one to manage, its a constant battle to keep data accurate and real time. There are other closings that were not cuaght by SE, as Jeff & I were doing some research on new dev % sales that closed and I noticed differences between SE and my internal systems.
Do let us know though if it catches the one you are about to close on.
Posted by Former Seller
Mon Apr 6th, 2009 12:02 PM
It amuses me that people give so much weight to the SE inventory count. No matter how accurate they try to make them it's a weak and lagging indicator at best.
I'm pretty sure it uses software to sweep disparate listings databases, which is reason all by itself not to trust its accuracy. There's no overseer that verifies every listing contributing to the count and their status. A neighbor next one floor below me sold her unit FSBO at absolute peak just before the credit crisis and her sale is conspicuously missing from their data. Furthermore many brokers don't bother to keep the status of their listings current, so data can remain stale for several weeks. I had pulled my listing once during the fall but it stayed the same on SE for at least 3 weeks.
Also- its a laughable idea that any RE brokerage would waste their time trying to manipulate numbers down on SE with the dubious intent of making the market appear stronger at the expense of less exposure for their listings. If anything, it would be far easier to manipulate listings count upward.
It's definitely a useful indicator, but people seem to treat it as if it's the DJIA of manhattan RE.
Posted by Bear
Mon Apr 6th, 2009 07:36 PM
I don't look at adverts without the address. Neighborhoods are too variable and I need comps on the building to judge the price (to see if I want to make a counter bid).
This might be an attempt by the sell side to offer less information to the buy side customer -- more work and more pain to decide if they are interested.
i.e. please call my bait and switch advert to find out the real information.
What a waste of time. Thank's Corcoran.