Average, median home price of a 4-bedroom, 2-bath home in Boulder The average price of a single-family home in Boulder city limits in 2015 was $722,853. The median over the same time was $693,000, according to data from Re/Max of Boulder. D.B. Wilson, of Re/Max said he prefers to use both average and median in assessing a market, while the National Association of Realtors’ preferred measure is the median price. The San Jose metro area was the nation’s most expensive market, with a median single-family home price of $965,000, according to the NAR, which looks at all single-family homes regardless of bedroom and bathroom count. Sources: Steve Altermatt, Re/Max of Boulder via MLS, National Association of Realtors

It was the news heard ’round the world (or at least metro Denver): The going price of a four-bedroom home in Boulder recently topped $1 million, according to a report from Coldwell Banker, putting the city in the top 1 percent of most expensive U.S. markets.

The story, written by The Denver Post and then picked up by several other outlets including the Daily Camera and Times-Call, went viral, the latest in a series of news reports that painted a picture of a super-heated housing market that had become not only the most expensive in the state, but one of the most costly in the nation, out of reach to all but a few.

Except, according to local realtors, it’s not true.

“The way Coldwell Banker obtains their data is just patently incorrect,” said Steve Altermatt with Re/Max of Boulder, calling the numbers “sensationalistic.”

At issue are several factors, including the use of list price (also known as asking price) rather than sale price; the small sampling of data that included only 11 listings from Coldwell Banker; failure to adhere to the four-bedroom, two-bath standard (two of the homes had six and eight bathrooms, respectively); and the inclusion of homes outside city limits, including two $7 million sales in the foothills.

When the sample data is so small, “one listing will skew that number completely,” Altermatt said. “You really need to look at a bigger, more accurate number” — for the whole market, not just one real estate company, over a long period of time.

Year to date, there have been 88 sales of four-bedroom, two-bath homes sold in Boulder for an average of $722,853, according to data from the MLS, the database of real estate transactions from which agents draw their data.

That’s still out of reach for many, Altermatt admitted, but a far cry from the $1 million figure in the Coldwell report, a statistic that is “a long ways away” from becoming reality.

“We’re already known as being this elitist place, and then when you throw that ($1 million average) out and it’s wrong, it’s major buzz,” he said. “It’s just adding fuel to the fire.”

Though the average of all home sales in Boulder for 2015 is high ($946,175), that figure is jacked up by multi-million dollar listings, common in and around the city.

That’s why a better measure of what the market is doing is median home price, said Adam DeSanctis, economic issue manager for the National Association of Realtors. D.B. Wilson, also of Re/Max, said he prefers to look at median to explain jumps in average prices, which can be skewed by a few expensive listings.

“I don’t think every one is necessarily better, but it’s important to be looking at them both,” Wilson said. With small sample sizes being the norm in Boulder — for example, right now there are only seven listings in the city of four-bedroom, two-bath houses — the average price “could be $1 million-plus one month and the next month could be $600,000” depending on what’s available.

That’s what happened with the two $7 million Coldwell listings. “They just aren’t the norm,” Wilson said. “It’s really an apples and oranges kind of thing.”

The most recent median single-family sales price in Boulder was $693,000 for four-bedroom, two-bath homes.

“What is that house, what does it look like?” asked David Siroty, vice president of communications for Coldwell, defending the firm’s report as a “snapshot” into the local home buying process. “You can’t drive around Boulder and say ‘That’s it, I’m looking at it.'”

Siroty conceded that it was possible some homes in the study were technically outside Boulder city limits, but that it presents an accurate picture of activity in a particular area, regardless of arbitrary geopolitical boundaries.

“The whole purpose is to showcase a real live house in your neighborhood,” he said. “It’s a guide. Are people going to make a real-life decision because the NAR says the (median) price is $600,000? Probably not.”

Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, castles@dailycamera.com, @shayshine