How we work out a suburb’s value

No magic, no black box. We take the real homes for sale in a suburb right now and report the middle of the market. Here is exactly what that means.

The method: median of real comparables

For the suburb you choose, we gather the live for-sale listings and take the median asking price — the middle value, so one R20-million outlier can’t drag the number the way an average would. It is the same approach the full Liivra AVM uses; here it runs at suburb level, as a free consumer guide. We need at least 8 comparable listings before we’ll publish a figure — below that, we say there isn’t enough data rather than guess.

What it tells you

• The middle of the asking market in a suburb — a fair anchor before you list or offer.
• The spread, so you can see whether a price is high or low for the area.
• How values differ by property type and by bedroom count.

What it does NOT tell you

• It is asking, not sold. Sellers ask; buyers pay. Sold prices run a little under asking in most markets.
• It is a suburb, not your house. Your stand size, condition, view and renovations move your number off the suburb median.
• It is a snapshot of what’s on the market now, not a time series.

When you need more

For a figure on one specific address — to set a listing price, challenge a municipal valuation, or support a bond — a full valuation uses that property’s own attributes and recent sold data. The suburb guide tells you where the goalposts are; a per-address valuation tells you where your home sits between them.

General market information from live asking prices, not a formal valuation or financial advice. We advertise property insight; we are not an estate agent and we hold no money.