PPROPERTY VALUATION
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Leading with over 20 years of experience in the field of valuation. We have the experience to conduct all types of property valuation – Land, Buildings, Plant & Machinery.
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Why would you need Valuation services?
Property is valued for a number of reasons that do not necessarily involve a purchase or sale; for example for bank financing or mortgage, compulsory purchase or tax reasons, for insurance and for book purpose among other purposes. These different types of valuations may apply different methods and values arrived at are different, for example, a valuation for insurance purpose will be based on cost of reinstating a development, excluding the land.
Valuation Concepts You Should Know
The concept of value is a difficult one to comprehend. Economists relate it to utility but this is not of any practical use when determining actual values in the market. A price may be determined on the market but this may not always equate with the valuation of the property in the market. Problems of the difference of price and valuation arise because the marketplace for property is unique in the fact that it tends to be decentralised and fragmented. For instance, you can ascertain the price of your shares from the morning papers but the price of an office building might be more difficult to determine. The assumption is that if an identical office block has been sold, it should be indicative of the price of the block you are looking at; it should, but it often does not. The problem is one of imperfect markets in that the transaction may be difficult to reconstruct, and it could also be that the outside parties have limited knowledge of the deal that was actually struck. There is a wide range of reasons why premises are bought and sold, and the environment in which transactions are taking place is constantly changing. Besides the problem of assessing the price of a property, there is also a problem of assessing value when a property is not being sold and a transaction does not actually take place. The negotiated price is dependent on the particular circumstances of the transaction, among other factors.
This is the price at which an interest in a property might reasonably be expected to be sold by private treaty assuming:- i) a willing seller; ii) a reasonable period within which to negotiate the sale, taking into account the nature of the property and the state of the property; iii) values will remain static throughout the period; iv) the property will be freely exposed to the market with reasonable publicity; v) no account is taken of an additional bid by a special purchaser; It is based on a valuer’s knowledge of local market conditions and transactions and requires knowledge of market data, the context in which market transactions are being made and the basis of the calculations used in the market to assess the market value. The important element here is what the market judges to be the transaction price, not what a particular investor believes is a fair price or worth.
Valuation Methods
There are a number of methods of valuing property, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages. Often, the method changes depending on the nature of the property and particularly the use it is put to. The most common valuation methods include
The comparative method of valuation relies exactly on that - comparison. It involves comparing similar types of houses in a given area to judge the relative value of any particular one. This is the method most often used to achieve the Open Market Value. For this to be truly effective, it needs to be based on the actual sales prices of the properties, rather than the more commonly published asking prices.
Another method of valuation is the repayment option, which aims to repay the price of a property within 12-15 years, based on its income. Of course, the analysis can be further modified by taking into account taxes due, vacancy periods, repair costs or rental and capital increases over the time span involved. If an investor were to sell the property at the end of a twenty year investment term, gross profit would be the rent over the last five years plus any capital appreciation which occurred over the entire twenty year term
An investment valuation is calculated using the yield from the property. The higher the yield means the greater the return on your investment and using an investment valuation is useful in comparing the returns on a property to other investments such as equity, stocks, bonds or even interest deposit accounts.
Another common method of valuation is the residual value, which in terms of property development, calculates the value somebody may be prepared to pay for a plot of development land for example. The residual value is often useful in calculating whether a profit can be achieved on a development.
The cost method or 'Base Value' of a property is the simple cost of the site it is built on and the cost of building the property itself. Included in the cost of building are items such as labour, fit out and any taxes due. The base cost is often a good starting point for valuations required for insurance, scheduling or budgeting.
Insurance provides protection and physical assets are insured for one of the following two reasons. 1) The replacement of asset or income or both lost through the occurrence of specified contingencies 2) Relief from legal liabilities incurred through the occurrence of specified contingencies. In the first category falls all property insurance e.g. fire, motor, marine, etc. and in the second category fall all liability coverages. The sum insured and its adequacy.
The sum insured under an insurance policy serves three purposes: 1) It is the amount on which premium is charged 2) It is the maximum liability of the insurer within the policy 3) It is basis for the calculation of under insurance in the event of claim Insurance can provide full protection only when the sum insured is adequate both when the insurance is first purchased as also at all subsequent renewals. Thus the adequacy of sum insured is very critical to the insured if the policy is “subject to condition of average.” The following implications should be noted; a) If the sum insured is too low (under insurance) and if there is a big claim, the insured would end up receiving a settlement which would be substantially less than the full settlement of the claim thereby defeating the very purpose of taking insurance; b) Over insurance would only mean over payment of premium. No benefits will accrue at the time of claim, hence this is over payment without corresponding benefit. The adequacy of sum insured is thus very important and critical for the insured. It is important for the insurer also in the sense that the insured feels cheated if he does not get adequate indemnity because of under insurance and it may strain the insurer’s relationship with clients. However, there is tendency on the part of the insured also to save on premium.
Assets are valued for different purposes e.g. for taxes, balance sheet, merger and acquisition, etc. They are also valued for the purpose of insurance. There are various methods of valuation; choice of appropriate valuation method depends upon the purpose of valuation as also on the nature of assets involved. The various methods used for valuation are as follows: 1. Valuation based on replacement cost basis: Here the cost of a new machine of similar nature, make and capacity if available is established. This cost will represent the value on replacement cost basis. 2. Good as new: There are situations where machine / plant is working satisfactorily because of good maintenance. In such situation, this valuation method is used which represents the original actual cost less depreciation but adding back the maintenance cost. 3. Sum of part valuation: This method of valuation is used where the equipment is not of composite nature. In this method all the different units / component are valued separately and then added up to arrive at the composite value. 4. Fair value method: This represents the value in exchange. This method of valuation is applicable to assets that can be currently exchanged in the market for value e.g. whatever may be the cost of production of an item, its value in the market for sale in exchange for cash is the fair value. 5. Depreciation method: a. Book Value: This represents the written down value of the assets in the books of accounts. In the first year, this represents the actual cost of the asset and with each passing year, appropriate depreciation is charged and the value of the asset is accordingly reduced. Over a period of time, the asset value becomes so low that it will not reflect the true worth of asset. b. Market Value: In this method depreciation is allowed on current replacement value of the asset for the number of years it has been in use to arrive at market value.