A hypothetical median with a missing group
Five closed listings have 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 days on market. Their median is 30 days. If five other homes are still active after 150 days, the sold-only median does not describe all ten marketing attempts. Calling it “the time it takes to sell” would overstate the evidence.
| Population | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Closed listings only | Time among completed sales |
| Current active listings | Age of unsold inventory at the cutoff |
| All marketing attempts | Requires withdrawals, relists and censoring rules |
Define luxury before measuring it
Choose a fixed price threshold or a stated percentile before inspecting results. Use the same definition across months. Explain cumulative versus listing-level days, resets, withdrawals and relists. Show the number of included homes, not just a median. A small high-price sample can shift sharply when a few unusual transactions close.
Give unsold listings a visible place in the analysis
Report the sold cohort and the active or withdrawn cohort separately. A median for completed sales excludes listings that did not close in the window. Show the period, property definition and number of observations next to the result, then inspect the unclosed inventory before using a short sold median to set a seller’s expected timeline.
Sources & further reading
- CFPB determine a comfortable home budget checked 2026-09-26
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