Property-data firms cite widely divergent numbers.

TRW-REDI paints a bleaker picture than Dataquick

When it comes to obtaining data on Southland real estate, there are two major data services from which to choose: TRW-REDI Property Data in Riverside and Dataquick Information Systems in La Jolla.

Although both say they use the same method for gathering data, their numbers do not always coincide. In fact, sometimes their numbers are miles apart.

For instance, TRW-REDI data reveals that banks provided $8.3 billion in construction financing for Los Angeles County projects in 1989, $2.1 billion in 1990 and $1.7 billion in 1991. (See accompanying story above.)

Dataquick, on the other hand, insisted that construction lending on L.A. County projects in 1989 was only $6.1 billion, $4.2 billion in 1990 and $2 billion in 1991.

In short, TRW-REDI figures show a far more dramatic drop-off. Specifically, TRW-REDI figures show L.A. County construction loan volume plummeted nearly 80 percent between 1989 and 1991, while Dataquick's numbers show only a 67 percent drop.

Both companies fiercely defended the accuracy of their data. And both said they compiled their data from the same source -- construction trust deeds filed with the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office.

If a bank is making available a loan, it needs to issue a trust deed, indicating the beneficiary of the loan. In California, if you record a construction loan at a county recorder's office, you are supposed to use a special deed that states the loan is a construction loan.

Researchers for both companies said they use a manual editing process to weed out "multiple-county" loans.

For example, if a lender makes a $100 million loan available to a company building outlets in three different counties, that loan would be classified as a "multiple-county" loan, and would be weeded out.

So whose data is more accurate?

Michael Carney, a professor of finance and real estate at Cal Poly University, Pomona, and executive director of the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California, a non-profit membership association dedicated to publishing real estate data for the area, said he goes back and forth in using data from both companies.

"I really don't know whose data is better," he said. Carney added that he is contemplating having one of his students analyze the companies' data as a school research project.

Nima Nattagh, a market research analyst for TRW-REDI, said he researched the discrepancies between his company's data and that of Dataquick for a title company. He said he analyzed data for the month of August 1991, and discovered that Dataquick had missed some loans.

Nattagh would not name the title company for which he did this research, but he sent the Business Journal a copy of the report listing the dates, document numbers, amounts and lenders of the construction trust deeds. He then indicated which companies recorded the loans.

Both TRW-REDI and Dataquick had incorrectly recorded loans. But, under Nattagh's report, Dataquick missed out on far more loans.

John Karevoll, a spokesman for Dataquick, insisted such "analysis" is nothing more than a sales pitch. He said that both companies make such comparisons "all the time," and he didn't want to get involved in a mud-slinging contest with TRW-REDI.

"We've put our data toe-to-toe with TRW and found them lacking," he said.

Karevoll said both numbers could be considered correct, depending on a client's criteria.

TRW-REDI is a partnership established in August 1991 between TRW Inc., an international company involved in advanced technology products and services for the space, defense, automotive and information systems markets, and Elsevier N.V., a diversified Dutch-based publisher.

The partnership also includes REDI Real Estate Information Service of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., DAMAR Real Estate Information Service of Los Angeles, and Sanborn Map Service of Pelham, N.Y.

TRW-REDI employs about 1,400 people in 29 offices nationwide, and provides real estate information services to about 40,000 customers, according to a company press release.

Dataquick, founded in 1979, has six regional offices in California, and provides mostly on-line data, said Karevoll.