Market information management for better valuations: Part II ‐ data availability and application

In March 1994 the Mallinson Working Party on commercial property valuations produced their report outlining a number of initiatives which the RICS should undertake to help improve the standing of the valuation survey within the business world. The recommendations related to the need to improve the technical element of the valuers’ skill by updating and extending the mathematical models; extending the access to and the use of data and revising the way in which they express their judgement. This, the RICS consider, is an exercise which should be addressed by education and guidance. In addition, as new methodologies are adopted, which are more explicit in their use and interpretation of data, so the profession will need to address the way in which data are collected and analysed. The role of research in real estate markets will become increasingly important. As information availability increases, the role of the valuer will need to change to provide the client with more analysis, interpretation and professional judgement. To be able to do this effectively, the profession will need to adopt new valuation techniques to utilize better the information available. Part II identifies and collates the salient market information to be subsumed into the valuation, or calculation of worth, model.