Retail and food services sales numbers are important to many sectors of commercial real estate. And the advance August numbers, according to the Census Bureau, were up 0.3% over July. But before going into the details, it's important to remember that this data, like many coming out of the Census Bureau, isn't necessarily that accurate.
As is often true with the agency's numbers, a proper appreciation for statistics on the part of the Census Bureau demands rigor: "The 90 percent confidence interval includes zero. There is insufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero."
Or that the change was positive. August's 0.3% number comes with a plus or minus 0.5% interval, which means it might have been as little as -0.2% or as much as 0.8% from July. Similarly, it was 9.1%, plus or minus 0.7% (between 8.4% and 9.8%), over August 2021.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
