Some property listing websites and property information websites are offering estimates of property values using computer calculations. Did you order it? No you didn’t. Is it bad for your investment health? Yes it is! You may be a seller expecting to get market value for your property and have relied on humans such as a registered valuer or a real estate agent to spend hours getting  the price right then along comes a computer algorithm to stuff it all up for you. 

On the other side of the transaction is the buyer looking at these property estimate ranges that are so wide and out of kilter with market values that you have to wonder what good purpose they serve. For the provincial property owners who may have been on the market trying to sell over two years ago do you remember how influential  Rateable Values were to a buyers thinking?  The more the market swings in favour of buyers  in the future (if it does) the more poisonous these property estimates are going to be. No matter what market conditions are it is just not human nature to pay full price. We can thank  ‘You’ll Never Buy Better’, ‘Where Everyone Gets A Bargain’ and on-line shopping for accelerating that! There is one site that offers a confidence level out of five of their own data and it is usually a score two or at the best three.

Here are two real examples;

Property ‘A’

 Currently on auction. Property website range is $460,000 (Low) - $550,000 (Middle) - $640,000 (High)  

Confidence level in data 2 starts out of 5. Probably market value is $650,000

Property ‘B’

Currently on auction. Property website range is $650,000 (Low) - $760,000 (Middle) - $870,000 (High)

Confidence level  in data 3 starts out of 5. Probable market value is in excess of $900,000 . You have to ask yourself do these websites think they will take over the property market with this mis-information. You be the judge.