Property Appraisals
A property appraisal is an assessment of what your property may reasonably sell for in the current market. It is commonly prepared when an owner is considering selling, planning a future sale or simply wants to understand where their property sits in the market.
Somners provides property appraisals completely free of charge, without any expectation or obligation to sell with us. We see them as part of our service to property owners in the communities where we operate, as well as an opportunity for you to meet your local Somners team, understand how we approach property and have someone you can come back to if and when you decide to sell in the future.
An appraisal provides an informed starting point for decisions about your property. It can help establish a likely selling range, identify the properties buyers are likely to compare yours with and provide some early direction around timing, presentation and how the property could be taken to market.
You are always welcome to request an appraisal, even if you have no current intention of taking your property to market. It can simply help you establish where your property sits in the current market and give you a clearer understanding of how its position may change over time. If you are considering selling in the future, your local Somners team can also arrange to keep in touch and provide updated market information as conditions change.
What Goes into a Property Appraisal
A useful property appraisal considers more than recently recorded sale prices. It brings together comparable sales, the individual characteristics of your property and an assessment of the market in which it would be offered for sale.
For residential property in Queensland, a comparative market analysis used by an agent to support likely selling-price information compares the property with at least three properties of a similar standard or condition that have sold within the previous six months and are located within five kilometres. If an appropriate comparative market analysis cannot be prepared, Queensland law allows the agent to instead provide a written explanation showing how the market value was determined.
The comparison itself is important. Two properties that appear similar in a database can attract very different levels of buyer interest. Land characteristics, condition, renovation quality, layout, parking, outlook, privacy, street position and usable outdoor areas can all affect how buyers compare one property with another.
Sales evidence also needs to be considered in context. Settled sales data is necessarily retrospective because there is usually a period between a buyer agreeing to purchase a property and the transaction settling. In Queensland, settlement commonly occurs several weeks after a contract was signed. In a changing market, recently settled sales may therefore reflect buyer decisions made under somewhat earlier market conditions.
For that reason, an appraisal also considers where the relevant part of the market appears to be sitting now and the direction in which conditions appear to be moving. This can include the number and quality of comparable properties currently available, recent buyer activity, the depth of demand, emerging sales evidence and whether buyers presently have more or fewer alternatives than they did when earlier comparable properties were sold.
Properties currently advertised for sale can provide useful context about the competition your property may face, although an asking price is not the same as an achieved sale price. The objective is to understand both what buyers have recently paid and the market conditions your property would encounter if it were offered for sale now.
Bringing these factors together provides a better-supported view of where your property currently sits in the market rather than relying on historical sales data, a suburb-level figure or an automated estimate alone.
How Somners Approaches an Appraisal
Somners began in property analytics, and research remains a core part of how we approach real estate. We use property data, comparable sales and current market evidence to establish the foundations of an appraisal, then look beyond the numbers to understand the individual property and how buyers are likely to view it.
Where appropriate, your Somners agent will inspect the property and consider characteristics that property databases cannot adequately capture. These can include its condition and presentation, layout, natural light, outlook, privacy, vehicle access, outdoor areas, renovation quality and the way the home functions as a whole.
We also look closely at where the property sits within its local market. Buyer demand can vary considerably between streets and pockets of the same suburb according to housing character, traffic, elevation, views, school access, transport, shopping, recreation and surrounding development. A suburb-wide statistic can provide useful context, but it cannot explain all of the differences that influence an individual property’s market position.
By combining property analytics, current market evidence, detailed local research and an inspection-based understanding of the property, we aim to provide an appraisal that reflects the market your property would actually enter rather than relying on the numbers alone.
An Appraisal Can Also Help Plan the Sale
For owners who are considering selling, an appraisal can also provide an opportunity to begin planning what should happen before the property goes to market.
We can discuss whether presentation or maintenance work is worth considering, which characteristics are likely to matter most to prospective buyers and how the timing of a possible sale may fit with current market conditions.
This can be particularly useful before spending significant money preparing a home for sale. Some improvements can make a meaningful difference to buyer appeal, while others may add cost without materially changing the likely result. Discussing the property before beginning that work can help focus attention on the areas most likely to matter.
If you are ready to sell, the appraisal can also lead into a discussion about the likely buyer market, marketing approach, method of sale and how the property should be positioned when the campaign begins.
An Appraisal Is Different from a Formal Valuation
A real estate appraisal provides an estimate of the price a property may reasonably achieve if offered for sale. It is intended to help an owner understand the property’s likely position in the market and assist with decisions around a possible sale. It is not a formal property valuation and should not be relied upon where an independently established valuation is required for a financial, legal or statutory purpose.
In Queensland, a formal valuation of real property can only be undertaken by an appropriately registered valuer. A formal valuation may be required or appropriate in circumstances involving lending, taxation, court or legal proceedings, estate administration, certain property transfers or other situations where an independent assessment of value needs to be relied upon.
The individual nature of a property does not, by itself, mean that a formal valuation is required. Where suitable comparable sales are limited, Queensland requirements allow an agent to provide a written explanation of how the market value was determined instead of a standard comparative market analysis. For particularly complex or individual properties, however, there may also be circumstances where obtaining an independent valuation is appropriate.
If you are unsure whether you need an appraisal or a formal valuation, your Somners agent can explain the distinction and, where appropriate, recommend that you obtain independent professional advice.
Request a Property Appraisal from Somners
You are welcome to get in touch with Somners at any stage to request a free property appraisal or simply have a conversation about your property. You may be preparing to sell, thinking about what you might do in the future or just interested in understanding where your property currently sits in the market.
There is no obligation to sell with us and no need to have made any decisions before getting in touch. Tell us a little about your property and what you would like to understand, and a local Somners agent can help from there.
Request a free property appraisal or speak with Somners about your property.
