Velvet Realty Group Blog
How to Read Velvet Market Updates: Metrics, Sources and Dates
Every number in a Velvet Realty Group market update comes from a named publisher, describes one area, covers one period and measures one thing. Check those four labels before you use a number. A metro figure is context for a decision about one home, not a price for that home.
The short version. Before you act on a market number, find out who published it, which geography it covers, which period it describes and when that period was released, and what exactly it counts. If any of those labels is missing or does not match your situation, treat the number as background.
This guide is for buyers and sellers in greater San Antonio who read monthly or weekly market updates and want to know what each figure can and cannot tell them. It explains methods and definitions. It is not a new market report and adds no new market statistics. The only figures here come from releases that were already published, and they appear to show how the labels work.
Which four labels should I check on any market number?
- Publisher. SABOR (the San Antonio Board of REALTORS), the Texas Real Estate Research Center, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Association of REALTORS and Freddie Mac each publish different series.
- Geography. A SABOR area figure, a Bexar County figure, a metro figure and a national figure answer different questions.
- Period and release date. The month a report describes is not the day it came out.
- What is counted. Closed sales, pending sales, new listings, active listings, permits, starts and loan applications are all different things.
You can find a shorter glossary of median, average and inventory on our Market Intelligence page. This guide is the longer version.
Who publishes the numbers, and what area do they cover?
Each publisher draws its own lines on the map, so a figure from one should not be swapped for a figure from another.
| Publisher | Geography |
|---|---|
| SABOR monthly release | An area-wide figure set, a separate Bexar County single-family figure set and a statewide Texas figure set, all in the same document. |
| Texas Real Estate Research Center | State, metropolitan statistical area (MSA), metropolitan division, county and local market area, using data that includes Texas MLSs. |
| NAR Existing-Home Sales | The nation and four regions: West, Midwest, South and Northeast. It does not report San Antonio. |
| Census new residential construction | National and regional. Metro, county and place detail for building permits comes from the revised Building Permits Survey release. |
| Freddie Mac PMMS | A national average. |
The SABOR document shows why this matters. For September 2026 it reports 1,839 Bexar County single-family sales and 5.4 months of inventory, and 25,584 homes sold across Texas, alongside its area-wide figures in the table below. Those geographies and property scopes differ, so the numbers should not be mixed.
SABOR says its membership serves more than ten counties, naming Atascosa, Bee, Bexar, Frio, Karnes, Kendall, La Salle, Maverick, McMullen, Medina, Uvalde, Val Verde and Wilson. Its area figure is not a reading of one city's market, and it cannot be assigned to Schertz, Cibolo, New Braunfels or any other single city. A Texas Real Estate Research Center MSA figure and a SABOR area figure are also not the same measurement.
Why is the release date different from the data period?
Data takes time to collect and publish. SABOR's most recent release at this writing is dated October 9, 2026 and describes September 2026. Its file name says August, while the document's own date, headline and table say September, so read the labels inside the document. In our updates, the data period and the release date belong next to each figure, and only releases already published on the writing date are used.
| Release | Data period | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Census new residential construction | September 2026 | October 20, 2026 |
| Census revised building permits | September 2026 | October 27, 2026 |
| NAR Existing-Home Sales | October 2026 | November 12, 2026, 10:00 a.m. Eastern |
| Census new residential construction | October 2026 | November 18, 2026 |
| Census revised building permits | October 2026 | November 25, 2026 |
Census revised building permits come out on the 17th workday of each month. Freddie Mac's survey publishes weekly on Thursdays at 12 p.m. Eastern (Wednesday when a U.S. holiday falls on Thursday), and each result averages applications from the prior Thursday through Wednesday. We did not find a published SABOR calendar. SABOR links each month's document from its market report archive, so check there for the newest one.
What does each metric count?
These definitions come from the publishers. The measures are different from one another: do not add or subtract them, and do not treat monthly sales as inventory.
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Average price | SABOR: the total of all home prices divided by the number of homes. |
| Median price | SABOR: the middle value when all prices are ranked. It is less affected by extremely high or low prices. |
| Total month sales | SABOR's table of closed sales compares the same month across years (September 2024, 2025 and 2026). |
| Percentage changes | SABOR states that its increases and decreases are based on a year-over-year comparison. |
| Months of inventory | Reported by both SABOR and the Texas Real Estate Research Center. SABOR's release does not state its formula, and we could not establish one shared definition, so check each publisher's own. |
| Days on market | SABOR reports an average. The release does not state the formula. |
| Active, new and pending listings | SABOR reports each separately. The release does not give an exact snapshot time for the active count. |
| Share of original list price | SABOR reports the average share of original list price at close. |
| Building permits and construction | Census tracks five phases: units authorized by a building or zoning permit, authorized but not started, started, under construction and completed. Group quarters such as dormitories are excluded. |
| Seasonally adjusted annual rate | Census headline construction figures express a monthly pace as a yearly total. It is not a count of homes built that month. |
| Existing-home sales | NAR measures sales and prices of existing single-family homes and includes condos and co-ops. |
| PMMS | Freddie Mac's national average from loan applications submitted to it, limited to conventional, conforming, single-family purchase loans, with a borrower profile of good or excellent credit and 20 percent down on owner-occupied one-unit homes. It is not a quote for any reader, so this guide prints no rate. |
Coverage has limits too. Not all areas require a building permit, and when a permit office does not report, Census either uses Survey of Construction data or imputes the missing units.
How much should one month's change matter?
Often less than the headline suggests. Census notes that month-to-month changes in seasonally adjusted statistics often move irregularly. It may take three months to establish an underlying trend for building permit authorizations, and six months for total starts and for total completions.
Census percentage-change ranges are 90 percent confidence intervals. If a range contains zero, the change is not statistically significant, which means it is uncertain whether there was an increase or a decrease. For example, September 2026 housing starts were 5.2 percent (plus or minus 11.8 percent) below August, and Census marks that as not statistically significant.
First estimates can also change. The same Census release reports a revised August figure alongside September.
What do the labels look like on a real report?
Here is the September 2026 SABOR release, the same data in our September market update. Each row names its source, its release date and its period.
| Metric | Figure | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Total month sales (closed) | 2,793 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
| Median price | $302,999 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
| Average price | $363,341 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
| Months of inventory | 5.95 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
| Average days on market | 88 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
| Active listings | 17,155 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
| New listings | 4,172 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
| Pending sales | 2,091 | SABOR, released October 9, 2026, September 2026 data |
A seven-question check for any figure
- Who published it?
- Which geography does it cover: SABOR area, Bexar County single-family, MSA, state, region or nation?
- Which period does it describe, and when was it released?
- What is counted: closed sales, pending sales, new listings, active listings, permits, starts or applications?
- Is it a count, an average, a median, a rate such as a seasonally adjusted annual rate, or a ratio such as months of inventory or share of list price?
- Is the change month to month or year over year, and is it statistically meaningful or likely to be revised?
- Does it match your property type, price range and neighborhood? If not, it is context, not a price.
Questions readers ask about market report numbers
Is the median price the value of my home?
No. A median is the middle value across all the homes in a report. It describes that group for that period, not one property.
Can I use a San Antonio area figure for one city or ZIP code?
No. SABOR's area figure spans a membership territory of more than ten counties. This guide includes no city, ZIP code, neighborhood or price-band breakdown.
Why does a report published in October show September?
The release date is when the report came out, and the data period is what it describes. SABOR's October 9, 2026 document describes September 2026.
Is a mortgage survey average the rate I would get?
No. Freddie Mac's PMMS is a national average for a specific loan and borrower profile. It is not a quote for any reader.
Sources
- SABOR, San Antonio Home Sales Edge Lower in September as Inventory Reaches 5.95 Months, dated October 9, 2026, covering September 2026, and the market report archive. Read 2026-11-09.
- U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, Monthly New Residential Construction, September 2026 (CB26-162), released October 20, 2026. Read 2026-11-09.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey definitions and release schedule. Read 2026-11-09.
- National Association of REALTORS, Existing-Home Sales. Read 2026-11-09.
- Freddie Mac, About the Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Read 2026-11-09.
- Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M, Housing Activity. Read 2026-11-09.
Where these facts come from
| Facts | The primary sources listed above, read on November 9, 2026. |
|---|---|
| Our framework | The four labels and the seven-question check are Velvet Realty Group's editorial synthesis of those sources, not an official protocol. The questions are our wording, not measured search demand. |
| Numbers | Already-published figures only, each with its source and period. No October 2026 figure and no mortgage rate appears here. |
| Published | 2026-11-09 |
| Next review due | 2027-02-09, or sooner if a source changes. The release dates above are as of November 9, 2026. |
| Corrections | If something on this page does not match its source, tell us and we will correct it and update the review date. |
This guide is general information and is not legal, tax, or financial advice.
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