Why Zillow, Redfin, and Your Realtor Are All Showing You Different Numbers for the Same Market

It's one of the most common points of confusion for buyers starting a home search: pull up Zillow, then Redfin, then ask a local agent, and you'll often get three different numbers for what feels like the same market. Recent figures make the gap obvious. Zillow's algorithmic home value estimate for the Columbus market puts the average home value around $248,686, with a reported median sale price of $253,333. Redfin, drawing from actual reported sales over a three-month window, put the Columbus median at $304,000 as of July 2026. Meanwhile, the Columbus REALTORS® Central Ohio Housing Report — pulled directly from the regional MLS — puts the metro-wide median at $350,000.

None of these numbers are wrong. They're just measuring different things, and understanding the difference matters if you're trying to set a realistic budget before you start touring homes.

Why the Numbers Diverge

Zillow's figure leans heavily on its automated valuation model, which can lag or smooth over real-time market shifts and tends to skew toward the city's overall housing stock, including a large share of smaller, lower-priced homes. Redfin's number reflects actual closed sales, but only within the city of Columbus proper over a rolling three-month window — a narrower and typically more affordable slice than the full metro area. The Columbus REALTORS® figure covers the entire regional MLS footprint across multiple counties, including higher-priced suburban and exurban sales that pull the median upward.

• Zillow: average home value ~$248,686, reported median sale price $253,333
• Redfin: Columbus city median sale price of $304,000 over the three months ending July 2026, homes averaging 40 days on market
• Columbus REALTORS® / regional MLS: $350,000 metro-wide median, covering the full multi-county footprint
• Each source pulls from a different geography and methodology — none is simply "more accurate" in isolation

What This Means When You're Budgeting for a Home Search

If you've been anchoring your budget to a Zillow estimate and then discovering that homes in the neighborhoods you actually want are priced well above that number, this is likely why. A citywide or algorithmic average can be a reasonable starting point for a very broad sense of the market, but it's a poor substitute for a search built around your specific target neighborhoods and the live MLS data behind them. Your agent's pulled comps, based on actual recent closings in the specific area and price range you're shopping, will almost always be the more reliable number to budget against.

Bottom Line

Zillow, Redfin, and MLS-based figures like Columbus REALTORS®' report measure different things and will rarely match. Budget against live, neighborhood-specific MLS data rather than a citywide algorithmic estimate, and the surprises during your search will be far fewer.

Margaret Lipp | REMAX Premier Choice

Serving Upper Arlington, Dublin, Worthington, Clintonville, Hilliard, Powell, Grandview, and all Central Ohio communities

Source: Columbus REALTORS® Central Ohio Housing Report, July 2026 (most recent available; the August 2026 report has not yet published), based on data from the Columbus & Central Ohio Regional MLS. Additional market timing data from the Columbus Ohio Real Estate Market Report (live MLS data). Sale figures for the luxury spotlight from Columbus Monthly, based on county auditor records for Franklin, Delaware, Licking, and Union counties. Market data is a snapshot in time and subject to change.