Data sources & transparency
Every number on CMAScope traces to a named public source. No scraping, no listing-level MLS data, no black boxes.
Realtor.com® Economic Research ↗
Listing inventory: median/average listing prices, active & new listings, days on market, price cuts, pending ratio, market hotness. National, state, metro, county and ZIP.
Updates: Monthly (first week), history to July 2016. Weekly national pulse updated weekly.
License: Free with attribution; commercial resale requires confirmation with Realtor.com.
Zillow Research (ZHVI / ZORI) ↗
Typical home values by bedroom count and home type; typical asking rents. National, state, county and ZIP.
Updates: Monthly (mid-month), values to 2000, rents to 2015.
License: Free and open with attribution to Zillow Research.
U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey ↗
Neighborhood context: population, income, age, education, employment, poverty, housing stock, tenure, vacancy — with growth vs the prior survey.
Updates: Annual (5-year estimates, released each December).
License: Public domain, attribution appreciated.
FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer ↗
Flood-zone map overlay (via HUD's public mirror).
Updates: Continuously maintained by FEMA.
License: Public domain.
What we compute ourselves
Year-over-year and month-over-month changes are recomputed from source history and reconciled against published figures. Derived signals — price-cut share, momentum z-scores, price percentiles, gross rent yield ($/yr rent ÷ home value) — are documented on the methodology page. AI-written summaries only narrate metrics computed here; they never invent numbers.
Fair Housing commitment
Demographic data appears strictly as market context, deliberately excludes racial and ethnic composition, and always carries a reminder that the Fair Housing Act prohibits using demographic characteristics to steer clients toward or away from any neighborhood.
Known limitations
Listing prices are asking prices, not closed sales. ZIP-level figures carry wider error bands than county or metro figures. Hotness covers roughly the 300 largest metros. Estimates from the value estimator are segment statistics, not appraisals.