Benchmark and average price confusion

Willyboy

Frequent Forum Member
Registered
Aug 19, 2016
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#1
Hello folks. I have been wondering about the benchmark and average price measures and just curious how they relate to each other.
For example, I checked the statistics on the website of the real estate association of Calgary for the past few years and I found out when the market was hot in 2013 and 2014 all three measures i.e. average, median and benchmark were going up in value in roughly the same percentage like for example one 10% and the other either 10% or 9% or 11% so I mean very close.
Nowadays there's a big difference like for example the average for the last few months has been up almost 5 to 6% for the same month year over year whereas the benchmark is down a bit or stagnant.

So what is it that makes that big difference? I imagine it could be maybe the type of house or something else? what kind of sales is bringing the average up when the benchmark is unchanged?