A valuation is an opinion formed for a purpose, not a fact about a building, which is why two of them can differ and both be right. This page sets out what moves the number, how to get one you can act on, and then points to the market in each city.
What nobody tells you.
Real prices, hidden costs and the traps to check before you commit.
A valuation is an opinion formed for a purpose, not a fact about a building, which is why two of them can differ and both be right. This page sets out what moves the number, how to get one you can act on, and then points to the market in each city.
Written by the ting.ad editorial team
All three gaps are explained by who is producing the number, and why.
A valuation is not a fact about a apartment; it is an opinion formed for a purpose. A lender, an agent seeking an instruction and a tax authority are answering different questions, and their numbers diverge accordingly. Knowing which question was asked is what makes a valuation useful.
An agent estimates what the market might pay. A lender estimates what could be recovered if it had to sell quickly. The second is deliberately more conservative.
Automated models work from recorded sales and floor area. They cannot see a new roof, a damp wall, an aspect or a boundary dispute — the things that move a real number.
Worth is a range. What it achieves depends on timing, presentation and how many qualified buyers exist that month.
The difference is not accuracy. It is the purpose each number was produced for.
Same property, same week, two figures far apart. Nothing about the building changed.
An optimistic figure at the top of any defensible range, which makes the seller feel well served and secures the agency agreement.
What it changesthe property launches above the market, and the reduction arrives six weeks later.
A range derived from completed comparable sales, with the adjustments stated openly — floor area, condition, aspect, lease length where relevant.
What it changesyou can argue with the reasoning, which is the only thing that makes a valuation worth having.
These are the adjustments a real valuer makes and an automated model cannot.
Five factors move a valuation materially. None of them is visible to an automated estimate.
The first two steps decide whether the rest is worth anything.
A valuation is only as good as the evidence behind it and the question it was asked to answer.
How reliable a valuation is depends heavily on how much evidence exists. In dense markets with frequent turnover, comparable sales are plentiful and the range narrows. In thin markets, or for unusual properties, the same exercise produces a much wider spread and depends far more on the individual valuer's judgement.
Each page below takes these questions city by city: what evidence exists, what drives value locally, and the specific things that move a number in that market.
One valuation is one opinion, produced for one purpose, by someone who may also want your instruction.
Ting works the other way round: describe your situation in a sentence and open a group call with local agents. Several independent readings of the same property, at the same time — which is the only practical way to see the range rather than a single point inside it.
Related questions
Because they answer different questions. An agent estimates achievable market price, a lender estimates what could be recovered in a forced sale, and a tax valuation follows a statutory basis. All three can be correct simultaneously.
They are a starting point. Automated models work from recorded sales and stated floor areas, so they cannot account for condition, aspect, lease length or planned building works — which are frequently what separates two otherwise identical properties.
In an active market, treat anything older than three months as a starting point rather than a basis for a decision. In a thin or falling market, the useful life of a figure is shorter still.
Measured floor area, evidence of tenure and lease length where relevant, service charge accounts, planning consents for past work, and the dates of major installations such as roof, heating or rewiring.
Yes. A single figure tells you nothing about confidence. Two or three independent readings show you the range, and the reasoning behind the spread is usually more useful than any one number.
No ting properties here yet
Be the first — share it on ting and it shows up right here.
