House buying - a good idea or not?

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Application of number: level 3

House Buying – a Good Idea or Not?

Task 1

a) Firstly the intention is to collect data for house prices within the area of Leicester. In order to produce reliable samples of data, information would need to be collected for at least 60 houses in total. Two separate samples, each comprising of 30 houses will be acquired for:        a) First time buyers’ houses

                        b) Other houses

The information will be obtained form two main sources:

  1. Local newspaper
  2. Internet

Undeniably both sources should provide sufficient house prices from many of the leading estate agents.

The data collated for both samples would be presented in the form of suitable graphs and charts and will then be used to calculate the mean, median, and interquartile range. House prices for first time buyers’ houses and other houses will also be compiled at a later stage. These house prices will be compared with present house prices by calculating the percentage increase since 1998. The current Leicestershire house prices will also be compared with regional and UK house prices.

b) The property guide published by the Leicester Mercury local newspaper was undeniably an invaluable source of house price data for my area. It presents a wide range of homes form over 50 estate agents. The Internet also provides a sufficient variety of house prices from many of the leading estate agents.

In order to acquire a sufficient range of house prices, data was obtained from 10 estate agents for each of the samples. Three house prices were be obtained from each of the 10 estate agents – one of which would be the highest house price whilst another would be the lowest house price, and one of the house prices was selected from the mid-range. This method of collecting information was an attempt to ensure that both samples were reliable due to consisting of a wide variety of data.

A table to show the data collated for the samples for other houses and first-time buyers’ houses (in ascending order):

Task 2

  1. Firstly the mean and range of the house prices would be calculated from the data of the two samples for:
  • First-time buyers’ houses
  • Other houses
  • All houses

The mean of a set of data is the sum of the values divided by the number of values.

        Mean = sum of values / number of values

The range is a measure of spread and the range of a set of data is the difference:

                Greatest value – least value

First-time buyers’ houses:

  • Mean:         Sum of house prices / 30

= £1,584,445 / 30

= £52,815 (to the nearest £)

        

  • Range:        highest house price – lowest house price

= £84,950 – £18,500

= £66,450 (to the nearest £)

        Other houses:

        

  • Mean:         Sum of house prices / 30

= £3,334,600 / 30

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= £111,153 (to the nearest £)

        

  • Range:        highest house price – lowest house price

= £249,950 – £32,500

= £217,450 (to the nearest £)

All houses:

        

  • Mean:         Sum of house prices / 60

= £4,919,045/ 60

= £81,984 (to the nearest £)

        

  • Range:        highest house price – lowest house price

= £249,950 – £18,500

= £231,450 (to the nearest £)

All of the calculations have been double checked in order to ensure that they are correct. The data in the tables of the samples was arranged in ascending order in ...

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