How Accurate is a 'Zestimate?' – Zestimate vs. Sold Price

This post is meant to educate sellers and buyers when it comes to Zestimates. Just like you should be educated on your area’s average price per square foot, Sale Price vs. Listed Price, or County Assessed Value vs. Sold Price. Zestimates tend to be inaccurate. If you read this article in the LA Times, then you can see how inaccurate they are all over the country.

Kalaheo, Kauai Zillow Stats

Kauai is not an exception. I did some research on Kalaheo real estate that is close to home, and this is what I found. Homes tend to be overvalued on Zillow. You can see from the picture below that homes will sell for roughly 90-94% on average of the current Zestimate.

This isn’t meant to say that they are never accurate. But out of the 12 homes sold from July 1, 2015 to December 15, 2015, you can see that 7 are below their Zestimate. That means that 60% of the time they are inaccurately high. 

Now if we take 100% as the standard and give some leeway to the Zestimate plus or minus 3% (97%-103%), only 5 are close to their actual Zestimate. So that would mean that 69% of time the Zestimate is inaccurate. When talking about homes that are selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars, that is a lot of money for each percent it is off.

I could probably do this for every area on Kauai and I’m sure each area will have its own averages. That is why it is important to work with a Realtor that understands your area and knows what is current market value of a home. I’m not saying you can’t use Zestimates as a ball park figure. But that is just what they are – “ball park.” Some might be close, but chances are they are off.

What’s Going On In Your Neighborhood?

If you would like to know what is going on in your area or are thinking of buying or selling a home, I would be more than happy to give you a market analysis of the property in question. Or take a look at some of my previous posts:

Mahalo!

JP Bolwahnn
808-482-4605
jp.hawaiilife.com
Instagram: @kauaiagent
Twitter: JPHawaiiLife