The Difference between Year to Date and Annualized metrics

In Market Insights, choosing the 'By Year' time period gives you the additional option of choosing 'Year to Date' or 'Annualized' as the aggregation against which to compare the current year results. Note that the current year on the chart AND the KPI box is always a Year to Date calculation.

When you choose 'Year to Date' (or YTD for short) the chart will display the YTD calculation for every year. So if it's May 15th, the results are for the months of January through April for every year on the chart. (Remember, this dashboard doesn't provide intra-month statistics!) 

When you choose 'Annualized', each year on the chart prior to the current year, will display the results for the entire year.

So which one is better?  The answer really depends on the type of metric you're reviewing.  For Counting metrics (Number of Closed Sales, Number of New Listing, etc.), YTD tends to be a better measure.  That's because those metrics are very seasonal.  Sales go up each summer and down each winter.  But for metrics that aren't seasonal, like Median Price or Percent Distressed, it's better to review those on an Annualized basis.

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