Market reports are full of terms that sound alike and mean different things. Average or median? Days on market or cumulative days on market? List price or sale price? Each one answers a slightly different question, and mixing them up can make a market look better or worse than it really is. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make, and you deserve to understand the numbers people use to talk you into or out of it. I wrote this guide so nobody can talk over your head. It explains every term in my monthly Treasure Coast reports, using real St. Lucie County numbers from September 2026. All of it comes from the MLS, the shared database local agents use to list and track every home for sale.
Days on Market
Reports usually show four versions of days on market. They come from two choices.
- Days on market (DOM) or cumulative days on market (CDOM). DOM counts days on the current listing only. CDOM keeps counting from the day the home was first listed, even if it was taken off the market and relisted. MLSs generally only start the count over if a home has been off the market for a set period, so pulling a listing and putting it back the next week doesn’t reset it.
- Average or median. The average adds up every home’s days and divides by the number of homes. The median is the middle home when you line them all up from fastest to slowest.
A Simple Example
Say five homes sold this month. Four sold normally, in 20, 30, 45, and 60 days. The fifth sat for 150 days, was taken off the market, then relisted and sold 95 days later.
| Days on market (current listing) | Cumulative days on market (since first listed) | |
| Average | 50 | 80 |
| Median | 45 | 45 |
The median stayed at 45 both ways because it only looks at the middle home. The average jumped from 50 to 80 because one long-sitting home pulled it up. And the relisting hid 150 days from the regular DOM count.
What Each One Tells You
| Measure | What it tells you |
| Median CDOM | How long the typical seller really waited. This is the one I lead with. |
| Average CDOM | Whether some homes are sitting a very long time. If it’s far above the median, there are stragglers. |
| Median DOM | How long the typical home sat on its current listing. Lower than CDOM when relisting is common. |
| Average DOM | The average on current listings only. The least useful of the four on its own. |
The Real Numbers
Here’s what single family homes in St. Lucie County looked like in September 2026.
| Single family, St. Lucie County | Days |
| Median DOM | 47 |
| Median CDOM | 56 |
| Average DOM | 74 |
| Average CDOM | 88 |
The typical seller waited 56 days from first listing to contract or sale. The 9-day gap between median DOM and median CDOM tells you some homes were pulled and relisted. The averages are much higher than the medians, which means a group of homes took a long time to sell and pulled the averages up. If you’re pricing a home, your goal is to be one of the homes near the median, not one of the ones dragging up the average.
Price Trends
A price trends chart can show up to ten lines. It looks overwhelming, but it’s really five groups of homes, each shown as an average and a median. The median is almost always the better number to watch, for the same reason as with days on market. A few very expensive homes can pull the average up a lot.
The Five Groups
| Group | Which homes | Which price | What it tells you |
| Active list | Every home for sale during the month | Current asking price | What sellers are asking right now, including homes that have been sitting because they’re overpriced |
| New list | Homes that came on the market that month | Starting asking price | What sellers think their homes are worth today. The freshest read on seller expectations |
| Pending list | Homes that went under contract that month | Asking price when the contract was signed | What buyers are agreeing to. The sale price isn’t known until closing |
| Sold list | Homes that closed that month | Final asking price before the sale | Where sellers ended up after any price reductions |
| Sold sale | Homes that closed that month | Actual sale price | What buyers really paid. This is the number that matters most for value |
The Real Numbers
Here are the medians for single family homes in St. Lucie County in September 2026.
| Single family, St. Lucie County | Median |
| Active list price | $441,220 |
| New list price | $429,000 |
| Pending list price | $410,000 |
| Sold list price | $415,000 |
| Sold sale price | $400,000 |
Read from top to bottom, this shows the path from asking to selling. Homes for sale have a median asking price of about $441,000. Homes that actually sold had a median final asking price of $415,000 and a median sale price of $400,000.
Why is the active price so much higher than the sold price? Partly because homes that are priced too high stay on the market longer, so they pile up in the active count month after month. Homes that are priced right sell and drop out. The active list price always leans toward the overpriced homes.
That’s why I never use active list prices to tell someone what their home is worth. Sold sale prices tell you what buyers paid. New list prices tell you whether sellers’ expectations are rising or falling. And the gap between new list and sold sale prices tells you how far apart buyers and sellers are.
Average vs. Median in Price Trends
The averages for the same homes were much higher. The average active list price was $584,065, compared with a median of $441,220. A relatively small number of high-priced listings, waterfront and luxury homes for example, pull the average up. If the average jumps one month and the median doesn’t, it usually means a few expensive homes were listed or sold, not that prices rose across the board.
Sale to List Price Ratios
These show how close homes sold to their asking price, as a percentage. There are two versions, and the difference between them is one of the most useful things in any report.
- Sale to list price ratio compares the sale price with the final list price, the asking price at the time the home went under contract.
- Sale to original list price ratio compares the sale price with the price the home was first listed at, before any reductions.
100% means homes sold right at asking. Below 100% means buyers paid less than asking. Above 100% means buyers paid more, which usually happens only in very competitive markets.
The Real Numbers
| St. Lucie County, September 2026 | Sale to final list | Sale to original list |
| Single family homes | 97.5% | 94.3% |
| Condos, townhomes, villas, and manufactured homes | 94.2% | 88.8% |
For a single family home first listed at $400,000, 94.3% works out to about $377,000. For a condo first listed at $300,000, 88.8% is about $266,000.
What the Gap Tells You
The space between the two numbers is mostly price reductions. Single family homes in St. Lucie County sold within about 2.5% of their final price, but about 5.7% below where they started. That means a lot of the negotiating happened before an offer ever came in, as sellers lowered prices while their homes sat.
If you’re selling, the original list price ratio is the one to watch. It shows what pricing too high at the start tends to cost. If you’re buying, the final list ratio gives you a sense of how much room there usually is to negotiate on a home that’s already been reduced.
Supply
Months of Supply and Absorption Rate
Months of supply answers one question. If no new homes came on the market, how many months would it take to sell everything that’s for sale now? Around six months is generally considered balanced. Less than that leans toward sellers. More leans toward buyers.
You’ll see this number under two names, and they aren’t always calculated the same way.
| Name | Where you’ll see it | How it’s figured | St. Lucie County, September 2026 |
| Absorption rate | Market Summary report | Homes for sale divided by the average number sold per month so far this year | 5.91 months, all residential |
| Months of inventory | Market Trends report | Listings divided by the number sold in that one month | Varies more from month to month |
These two can give different numbers for the same month, which makes it easy to be misled when someone quotes one without saying which. The absorption rate uses a full year of sales, so one slow month doesn’t throw it off. That’s the number I use when I tell you how much supply there is. If anyone quotes you months of supply, it’s fair to ask how they figured it.
Listing Counts
| Count | What it means |
| Active listings | Homes for sale. More active listings means more choices for buyers and more competition for sellers |
| New listings | Homes that came on the market that month. This shows how many owners are deciding to sell |
| Pending listings | Homes that went under contract that month. This is the earliest sign of what buyers are doing |
| Sold listings | Homes that closed that month. These usually reflect contracts signed one to two months earlier |
Two patterns are worth watching. If pending sales rise while closed sales fall, buyers are still active and more closings are likely coming. If active listings fall while sales hold steady, as they did across the Treasure Coast this year, it means fewer owners are listing, not that buyers are rushing in.
Volume
Volume is the total dollar value of a group of homes. Active volume adds up the asking prices of every home for sale. New volume adds up the asking prices of new listings. Sold volume is shown two ways, as the total of final list prices and the total of actual sale prices.
Volume shows how much money is moving through a market. Honestly, for most buyers and sellers, it’s the number you can skip. A few expensive sales can move it a lot. The one thing it shows clearly is the total discount buyers negotiated in a month, which is the gap between sold volume at list price and sold volume at sale price.
Listing Statuses
Every home in the MLS has a status. You’ll see these in reports and on listing sites.
| Status | What it means |
| Coming Soon | The home is listed but not yet available to show. It will go active soon |
| Active | For sale and available to show |
| Active Under Contract | An offer has been accepted, but the sale depends on something still in progress, such as an inspection or financing. Sellers may accept backup offers |
| Pending | Under contract and moving toward closing |
| Closed | The sale is complete |
| Temp Off Market | Taken off the market for a short time, for example during repairs, and expected to return |
| Withdrawn | Taken off the market, but the listing agreement with the agent is still in place |
| Cancelled | The listing agreement has ended before the home sold |
| Expired | The listing agreement ran out without a sale |
Withdrawn, Cancelled, and Expired homes are worth paying attention to. They’re homes that didn’t sell, often because they were priced above what buyers would pay. If you see a lot of them in your neighborhood, it’s a sign buyers are pushing back on price. And if a home you love says Active Under Contract, it isn’t necessarily off the table. Ask me what that means for your chances before you move on.
Property Types
The MLS sorts residential property into subtypes. My monthly reports usually split them into two groups because they behave differently.
- Single family homes. Detached houses on their own lots.
- Condos, townhomes, villas, and manufactured homes. Condominiums, townhouses, villas, and manufactured and mobile homes, grouped together the way the MLS trend reports allow. These often come with HOA or association fees, different insurance questions, and a different set of buyers.
When a report says “all residential,” it includes every residential subtype together.
Report Labels
| Label | What it means |
| Sep-26 or 9-26 | September 2026 |
| YTD | Year to date. January 1 through the end of the report month |
| % Chg | Percent change from the same period a year earlier |
| This Month vs. Year to Date | One month on its own, or everything so far this year combined. Year to date is steadier and better for spotting a real trend |
| Price band | A range of prices, such as $350,000 to $399,999, used to show how each part of the market is doing |
Reading the Numbers Together
No single number tells you what a market is doing. Here’s how I put them together.
If You’re Selling
- Start with months of supply in your price range. Under six months, you’re in a decent position. Over six, plan for more competition.
- Look at median cumulative days on market. That’s a realistic timeline for planning your move.
- Compare sale to original list with sale to final list. A big gap means sellers who priced high ended up reducing. Pricing right from the start usually costs you less.
- Check sold sale prices, not active list prices. What buyers paid for homes like yours is what your home is worth today.
If You’re Buying
- Check months of supply in your price range. More supply means more choices and more room to negotiate.
- Watch pending sales. If they’re rising, competition for good homes is picking up.
- Use the sale to final list ratio. It gives you a realistic idea of how much below asking homes are selling for.
- Look for homes well past the median days on market. Those sellers are often the most open to an offer.
Common Mistakes
- Treating the average as typical. When the average and median are far apart, trust the median.
- Reading one month as a trend. Monthly numbers bounce around. Look at year to date or several months in a row before drawing conclusions.
- Using county numbers for your street. A county report blends very different neighborhoods and price ranges. For a decision about a specific home, you need neighborhood sales.
- Comparing numbers from different reports. Two reports can define the same term differently, as with absorption rate and months of inventory. Compare like with like.
- Taking a number on faith. Whenever anyone gives you a market statistic, including me, you deserve to know which number it is and where it came from. A good agent will tell you without hesitating.
Want Help Reading Your Neighborhood’s Numbers?
I’m happy to pull the numbers for your neighborhood and walk you through them. Tell me where you live, and I’ll send you what’s for sale near you, what’s under contract, and what has sold recently.
[Request your neighborhood report]
Michele Scherger, Pinnacle Real Estate Group
Examples use Beaches MLS data for St. Lucie County, September 2026. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
