Methodology
How we source our numbers
Everyone in this market publishes numbers. Almost nobody publishes where they came from, or what is wrong with them. Here is ours, including the parts that do not flatter us.
There is no official source of closed-transaction data for San Miguel de Allende. No public registry publishes it and no industry body compiles it. Every price and volume figure you have read about this market, including ours, ultimately traces to one brokerage counting its own sales.
That sentence is the reason this page exists. It is also the reason we are comfortable publishing at all, because once you know where the numbers come from you can weigh them properly, and almost nobody in this market will tell you.
The three rules
1. Nothing is published without a traceable source
Every figure on this site carries the publisher it came from and the period it covers, listed at the foot of the page it appears on. If we cannot point at where a number came from, it does not go up. This is more restrictive than it sounds and it costs us pages we would like to have.
2. A derived number is never presented as a reported one
An example we take seriously, because it concerns a figure this business itself has used. The commonly cited count of 504 resale closings in 2025 was never published by anyone. The underlying source reported 404 closings in 2024 and a 24.68% increase in 2025. If you apply the one to the other you get roughly 504, and that number then travelled as though it were a measurement.
It is a reasonable inference. It is not a reported figure, and the difference matters. Where we use it, we describe it as implied by the reported change, not as a count. We would rather lose the cleaner sentence than blur that line.
3. When sources conflict, both get published
The most visible informational site covering this market currently states a median San Miguel house price of roughly US$298,000 on one of its pages and roughly US$575,000 on another, both live at the same time. We are not interested in scoring points off that. We raise it because it shows how little scrutiny the numbers in this market receive, and because a buyer working from either figure alone would make a materially different decision.
What we cannot tell you
An honest list is more useful than a confident one. As of July 2026 the following are not knowable from any source we have been able to verify:
- A true median sale price from closed transactions. Only averages are published, and in a market where a dozen sales above two million dollars can swing the mean, an average is close to meaningless. The medians in circulation are asking-price estimates from listing portals, not sales.
- A reliable 2026 year-to-date volume. The one source publishing monthly counts has reported a year-to-date figure that falls from one month to the next, which cannot be right. Until that is resolved we are not publishing a 2026 volume number.
- Neighbourhood-level closed-sale data. Appreciation figures by neighbourhood are estimates built from listing data and local reporting, not from registry records. We label them as such wherever they appear.
- Anything about off-market sales. A meaningful share of transactions here never touch an MLS. Nobody knows the size of that share, including us.
Why we have no commission
We do not list properties. We do not represent buyers or sellers. We take no referral fee from anyone who does. This is not a moral position, it is a structural one: an organisation paid on completed transactions cannot credibly publish the finding that inventory is overpriced and sitting, because that finding costs it money. We can, because it does not.
What we ask for instead is your email address, in exchange for the quarterly report. That is the entire business model, stated plainly.
Corrections
If you find a figure on this site that is wrong, out of date, or traceable to a source we have mischaracterised, tell us and we will correct it and note the correction on the page. Write to send it through the contact form and we will correct it.
This is published research, not legal, tax or investment advice. Your notario is the legal authority on your transaction. We have no financial interest in whether it closes.
Sources
- Realty San Miguel — monthly market updates (the origin of most SMA transaction figures) · Checked July 2026
- AMPI San Miguel de Allende — confirmed to publish no transaction statistics · Checked July 2026
Common Questions
Where does San Miguel de Allende transaction data actually come from?
From one brokerage. The Guanajuato public property registry publishes no compraventa statistics, and the local AMPI chapter publishes none either. Effectively every closed-transaction figure in circulation for San Miguel de Allende traces back to Realty San Miguel reporting counts from its own MLS view. It is the best data available, and it is unauditable.
Does Invest In San Miguel earn a commission?
No. We do not list properties, we do not represent buyers or sellers, and we receive no referral fee from anyone who does. Our only revenue relationship is with readers.
What do you do when sources disagree?
We publish both figures and say plainly that they conflict. A worked example is on this page: the most-cited informational site for this market currently states two different median prices for San Miguel de Allende on two of its own pages.
How often is the data updated?
Market pages are revised quarterly, and each figure carries the date it was current as of. Where a source stops publishing or changes methodology, we note it rather than carrying the old number forward silently.
San Miguel de Allende · Heritage Equity
The report no agent will send you.
The SMA Wealth Intelligence Report. Transaction data, neighbourhood appreciation, and the full short-term rental yield distribution. No commission agenda, because we do not earn one.