Most property content quotes asking prices as if they were facts. They are opening bids.
The gap
Registered sale prices routinely land below asking, with the gap widening in slow markets and vanishing in hot ones. A city “at 3,000 euros per square meter” on a portal may be transacting meaningfully lower at the notary.
Our grades
Grade A: markets with official transaction data: the UK (every sale since 1995), Dubai (every registered deal published), Spain and Portugal (notary and tax-record statistics). Here we can anchor on what buyers actually paid.
Grade B: markets with solid official indices plus portal reports: Turkey, Greece, Oman. Directionally reliable, less precise.
Grade C: asking prices and agent intelligence only. We label it, and we say so on the page.
Why we show the grade
Because trust is the product. Every city page carries its grade and an as-of date, approximate figures say approx, and when a number comes from a portal’s asking prices rather than a land registry, the sources line tells you.