ZESTIMATE (ZEST-TI-MET)

The Zestimate® home valuation model is Zillow’s estimate of a home’s market value. The Zestimate incorporates public and user-submitted data, taking into account home facts, location and market conditions.

It is not an appraisal and it should be used as a starting point. We encourage buyers, sellers and homeowners to supplement the Zestimate with other research such as visiting the home, getting a professional appraisal of the home, or requesting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent.

Last updated: June 26, 2019

Note: The Zestimate’s accuracy is computed by comparing the final sale price to the Zestimate that was published on or just prior to the sale date.

Definitions

MEDIAN ERROR:

The nationwide median error rate for the Zestimate for on-market homes is 1.9%, while the Zestimate for off-market homes has a median error rate of 7.5%. This means that the Zestimates for half of all on-market homes are within 2% of the selling price, and half are not. For most major markets, the Zestimate for on-market homes is within 10% of the final sale price more than 95% of the time.

HOMES WITH ZESTIMATES:

We can only calculate Zestimates for homes and regions where we have certain data, including historical transactions. This column indicates the number of homes in an area that have Zestimates.

WITHIN 5% OF SALE PRICE:

This is the percentage of transactions for which the Zestimate was within 5% of the transaction price.

WITHIN 10% OF SALE PRICE:

This is the percentage of transactions for which the Zestimate was within 10% of the transaction price.

WITHIN 20% OF SALE PRICE:

This is the percentage of transactions for which the Zestimate was within 20% of the transaction price.

Zestimate methods

Zillow publishes Zestimate home valuations for 97.5 million homes across the country, and uses millions of statistical and machine learning models that can examine hundreds of data points for each individual home.

To calculate a Zestimate, Zillow uses a sophisticated and proprietary algorithm that incorporates data from county and tax assessor records and direct feeds from hundreds of multiple listing services and brokerages. The Zestimate also incorporates a home’s facts and features, which homeowners have the ability to update.

The Zestimate accounts for variables like:

• Home characteristics including square footage, location or the number of bathrooms
• Unique features like hardwood floors, granite countertops or a landscaped backyard
• On-market data such as listing price, description, comparable homes in the area and days on the market
• Off-market data — tax assessments, prior sales and other publicly available records
  
  

Currently, we have data for over 110 million U.S. homes and we calculate Zestimates for more than 97.5 million of them.

How accurate is the Zestimate?

The Zestimate’s accuracy depends on location and the availability of data in an area. Some areas have more detailed home information available — such as square footage and number of bedrooms or bathrooms — and other areas do not. The more data available, the more accurate the Zestimate value will be.

Questions? Contact us at andi@andidyer(dot)com or 360-734-6479.

This content is not the product of the National Association of REALTORS®, and may not reflect NAR’s viewpoint or position on these topics and NAR does not verify the accuracy of the content.