Pull up three real estate sites for the same Farmington Hills address this month and you will get three different numbers, each one presented as if it were simply the market value. One says the neighborhood is worth around $350,000. Another puts it closer to $385,000. A third lists it near $399,450. None of these sites are wrong, exactly. They are measuring three different things and calling all three of them "the market."
The gap matters more than it looks like from a browser tab. In a city where the tightest price band is absorbing new listings in about a month, the number you trust before you price a home or write an offer is the difference between a smooth close and a rude surprise at the negotiating table.
Three Numbers, Three Different Questions
Each of the big portals is answering a slightly different question, and the difference explains most of the spread.
One is an automated valuation model, a statistical estimate built from public records and recent comparable sales, updated across every home in the city whether or not it is for sale. As of late June 2026, that estimate for Farmington Hills sat at $385,085, up 2.3% from a year earlier, with homes reported to go pending in around six days.
Another portal reports a trailing median of homes that actually sold, blending condos, single-family homes, and everything in between into one figure. Over the three months ending in April 2026, that median came in at $350,000, down 1.5% year over year, with the typical home selling in about 17 days after receiving roughly two offers.
A third source, closer to a list-price snapshot of what is currently on the market rather than what has sold, put the figure at $399,450.
Three legitimate methods. Three legitimate numbers. Zero agreement.
What Actually Closed in June
Here is the number none of the portals were built to show you: what homes in Farmington Hills actually sold for, pulled straight from the closed transactions on Realcomp, the multiple listing service that covers this part of Oakland County.
In June 2026, 91 homes closed across Farmington Hills and neighboring Farmington at a combined median of $390,000. Split by property type, the picture sharpens considerably. Single-family homes closed at a median of $420,000 and went under contract in just six days. Condos closed separately at a median of $294,000, taking about 32 days to find a buyer.
| Source | What it measures | Figure | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automated valuation model | Estimated value, all property types | $385,085, up 2.3% YoY | late June 2026 |
| Trailing sold median | Blended condo and single-family sales | $350,000, down 1.5% YoY | 3 months ending April 2026 |
| Active list price snapshot | Median of current listings | $399,450 | mid-2026 |
| Realcomp MLS closed sales | Actual closings, single-family only | $420,000, 6 days to contract | June 2026 |
Line up the four and the pattern is obvious. The portal estimates cluster in the $350,000 to $399,000 range because they are averaging across a wider mix of homes, including condos and slower-moving properties, and often lagging the most recent closings by weeks. The actual single-family closings, the ones happening right now on streets in Ramblewood, Kendallwood, Chatham Hills, and Hunt Club, are running $20,000 to $70,000 above the blended estimate.
That is not noise. It is the mechanism.
Why the Gap Widens Under $400,000
The reason the blended estimates lag behind actual single-family closings comes down to where the inventory squeeze actually lives. Overall, Farmington Hills is running around two months of housing supply, against roughly four and a half months nationally. But that overall figure hides a wide spread by price. Homes between $300,000 and $400,000, the band where a large share of the city's single-family stock sits, carry only about a month of supply. Homes priced under $200,000 or above $750,000 carry closer to four months, giving buyers in those tiers real room to negotiate.
A blended citywide median mixes all of that together. It cannot tell you that the $300,000 to $400,000 band is where the real competition is happening, because it treats a slow-moving $750,000 colonial and a six-day, multiple-offer $420,000 single-family sale as data points of equal weight.
The same fracture shows up about ten miles east in Troy, where one estimate puts the median home price at $400,000, another at $459,000 over the three months ending in June 2026, and a third closer to $414,936. Different city, same story: whichever number you land on depends entirely on which slice of the market you asked about.
What This Means If You Are Selling
If you are pricing a home in Farmington Hills right now, the automated estimate on the portal is not a bad starting point, but it is not your comparable set either. It was built for the whole city, not your street, your square footage, or your finish level. The number that should carry the most weight is what has actually closed in your specific price band over the last 90 days, not a blended citywide average and not the number you remember from a past refinance.
If your home falls in that $300,000 to $400,000 single-family range, you are pricing into a segment with roughly a month of supply, which means well-priced homes are still drawing competitive offers within days, not weeks. Pricing meaningfully below what has actually closed nearby leaves money on the table before a single showing happens.
What This Means If You Are Buying
If you are buying, the same gap works against you if you walk in expecting a portal's number to hold. A single-family home listed near the blended median may already be fielding multiple offers by the time you tour it, because the buyers ahead of you are working off the same closed-sales data, not the automated estimate. Financing needs to be arranged before you start touring, not after you find something you like. A six-day window from listing to contract does not leave room to shop rates mid-search.
Condos tell a different story and are worth watching separately. At a median of 32 days to contract, that segment is not moving at the same pace as single-family homes, which can mean more room to negotiate on price or terms if a condo fits what you need.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Before You Trust Any Number
Before you anchor a pricing decision or an offer to a number you found online, it helps to ask what that number is actually built from.
- Is this figure a closed sale, an active list price, or a computer-generated estimate?
- Does it blend condos and single-family homes, or separate them?
- What date range does it cover, and how recently was it updated?
- Is it citywide, or does it reflect the specific price band and property type you are dealing with?
A number that cannot answer those four questions is not a market value. It is a starting point for a conversation with someone who actually pulls the closed sales.
That is the conversation worth having before you list or make an offer. Helm & Associates has spent more than two decades reading Realcomp closings across eastern Macomb County and the surrounding communities, and a free Home Value report gives you the actual comparable sales behind your specific block, not a blended citywide average. If you are weighing a move in the Farmington Hills, Troy, or wider Oakland County area, or anywhere else across our footprint, Helm & Associates can walk you through what has actually closed near you and what that means for your timeline.
