Has anyone noticed Redfin altering past house price estimates?

Question

I've noticed, at least with regards to my home, that the price estimates for early this year were much higher than they are today. For example, one might had looked at the price history and saw their house had increased $100k in value from the time of purchase up until Jan/Feb of this year, whereas looking at the estimates today, that same time period now shows only a $20k gain.So if lets say 2020, house bought at $300k, was estimated at $400k by Redfin in early 2022. Today, Redfin now says the price estimate for the same home in early 2022 was actually $320k, not $400k as actually shown earlier in the year.I know price estimates are just that but I'm curious to know if anyone else has noticed or what you might think of something like this being altered after the fact?

ekux44 · Accepted Answer

This algorithm change has resulted in dramatically lower estimates for my area.Previously I assumed Redfin's estimates were trustworthy trailing averages. Now I realize they are very opinionated or perhaps even trying to shift buyer/seller expectations in a particular direction. I wonder what the success metrics are for their algorithm?

stevenhubertron · Answer

I just checked on 2 homes and yes they made changes to the estimate. I can prove this because I scrape their site and store the data for display in Home Assistant.

listenallyall · Answer

Redfin, and everyone involved in selling houses, has an incentive to NOT portray the current housing market as one in free-fall, but one that is relatively stable, perhaps down a few percent, but no more. (I'm not claiming it is in free fall, but a $400k estimate in Feb to $310 today would imply that, while $320 then, $310 now does not)What is the difference between the (displayed) past peak estimate and the current estimate?

afinlayson · Answer

Yup saw it on my house. Repriced by over 10% over last year.

endisneigh · Answer

I&rsquo;ve noticed this, Redfin estimates are useless.