The suburb median lies. Here is what it actually hides.
The suburb median you see on every listing platform sits on top of a quartile spread that buyers rarely interrogate. The four numbers behind the median tell you what the median cannot.
Sydney's Annandale median is $1.42M as I write this. The suburb's actual sales over the last 12 months span $720k to $3.1M. Half the sales sit above the median, half below, and the buyer who bid at the median number assuming it represented "an average house" was either underbidding or overbidding without knowing which.
The median is a useful summary statistic for a city. It is a misleading anchor for a purchase decision. Four numbers tell you what the median cannot.
1. The 25th and 75th percentile
The interquartile range is the gap between the 25th-percentile sale and the 75th-percentile sale. In a settled suburb with a tight housing stock, the range is narrow (e.g. Lane Cove North runs about 18% above and below the median). In a suburb with mixed stock or active subdivision, it is wide (Annandale runs about 50% above and 50% below). The wider the range, the less the median tells you about your specific lot.
Asking your agent for the IQR is the second question every buyer should ask, after "what is the median." Most agents will know it. Some will not. Either answer is informative.
2. The price per square metre
Two houses in the same suburb at the same price are not the same purchase. A 4-bed on 600m² at $1.4M is $2,333/m² of land. A 3-bed on 280m² at $1.4M is $5,000/m² of land. The first lot has subdivision optionality, the second has only the dwelling.
Price-per-square-metre normalises across lot sizes and is the single best comparison number when you are choosing between three properties at similar prices. It is also the number that exposes a lot you are paying too much for, where the dwelling is doing the work and the land is over-rated.
3. The days-on-market
The median number does not tell you how long the median sale took to clear. A suburb where most lots sell in 18 days behaves differently from a suburb where most lots sell in 95 days. The first signals demand, the second signals price discovery.
Domain and CoreLogic publish per-suburb DOM. If the average is above 60 days in an otherwise busy market, the suburb is signalling that the asking-price expectations have outrun the willing-buyer pool. That is information you would not get from the median.
4. The sale-vs-listing-price spread
The ratio of final sale price to original listing price tells you whether vendors are getting their number or accepting less. In Sydney's inner ring in 2026 the ratio is hovering around 97% (vendors trim 3% on average). In the outer-west it is closer to 91% (vendors trim 9%). Knowing where your target suburb sits on that scale tells you how aggressive your opening offer can be without losing the deal.
What to do with these four numbers
Pull them before you bid, ideally before you fall in love with a specific property. The quickest way to get them:
- IQR: Domain's suburb profile shows the high/low band and the median together. Some agent reports include it on request.
- Price/m²: divide the listing price by the lot area on the contract. Compare against the suburb's median price/m² (published by CoreLogic, free per suburb on their portal).
- Days-on-market: Domain's suburb profile shows current and 12-month-average DOM. SQM Research publishes it too.
- Sale-vs-listing spread: this one is harder. CoreLogic Pro shows it. Otherwise ask the listing agent directly and watch the answer.
Once you have all four, the median goes from "the answer" to "the headline that needs four footnotes." That mental shift is the difference between paying the median and paying what the property is worth.
What we do not do is tell you the median is the answer. It is one number among at least four that matter, and the buyer who treats it as the answer is the buyer who pays a premium for liquidity they did not need.
The median is a summary. Summaries hide. Read the spread instead.
