Why are VIC property scores estimated and not exact?

Victoria does not publish individual property sale records. The Victorian Valuer General publishes quarterly suburb-level median prices and annual sales volumes, but not transaction-level data. Without individual records, it is impossible to directly measure what fraction of sales fall at or below a given budget. GetReal estimates this using price distribution curves derived from NSW's 146,000+ individual sale records, matched to VIC suburbs by property type, price bracket, and market depth.

How accurate are GetReal's VIC property realism scores?

VIC scores are directionally useful but not precise. The estimation approach assumes VIC price distributions behave similarly to NSW markets with equivalent medians and volume. This is a reasonable assumption in most cases but will be less accurate in suburbs with unusual housing stock mix, strong recent price movements, or very thin markets. GetReal is transparent about this on every VIC result page.

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GetReal — Methodology

VIC suburb methodology

v1.0 — January 2025 (VIC data: Q4 2025 VGV report)

Victoria does not publish individual sale records. GetReal estimates VIC budget scores using NSW price distribution curves matched by property type, price bracket, and market depth. This is an estimation approach — not a direct count. GetReal is transparent about this on every VIC result.

NSW has over 146,000 individual sale records, which allows direct measurement of the price distribution around the median — how many sales fall at 80%, 90%, 100%, 110% of median, and so on. This distribution shape is consistent across NSW with two meaningful variables: price bracket and market depth.

Price brackets

Bracket	Median price range
1	Under $500,000
2	$500,000 – $800,000
3	$800,000 – $1,200,000
4	$1,200,000 – $1,800,000
5	Over $1,800,000

Market depth tiers

Thin markets (under 30 sales/year) have tighter price distributions — buyers compete hard for limited stock. Active markets (30+ sales/year) have wider dispersion. Three depth tiers were tested; high-volume and medium-volume suburbs were statistically indistinguishable. GetReal uses two tiers: active (≥30 sales/year) and thin (<30 sales/year).

Annual sales count — important note

The annual sales count for VIC suburbs is the rolling 12-month figure from the Q4 2025 VGV report — meaning calendar year 2025, not the trailing 12 months from today. GetReal displays "in 2025 (VGV annual data)" not "in the last 12 months" for this reason.

Curve lookup

// VIC suburb: median $750k, 45 sales/year, property type: house bracket = 2 // $500k–$800k depth_tier = active // 45 ≥ 30 ratio = budget ÷ suburb_median // e.g. $650k ÷ $750k = 0.867 budget_pct = interpolate(price_curves, type, bracket, depth_tier, ratio) // Curves store percentiles at 11 ratio thresholds: // 0.5×, 0.6×, 0.7×, 0.8×, 0.9×, 1.0×, 1.1×, 1.2×, 1.3×, 1.4×, 1.5× median

Honest limitation: VIC scores are estimates calibrated to NSW market behaviour. Actual VIC distributions may differ — particularly in suburbs with unusual housing stock, strong recent price movements, or very thin markets. Treat VIC scores as directionally useful, not precise.

↗ Source: Victorian Valuer General — Quarterly Property Sales Statistics