Real Estate Value - Home and Investment Property Values

What is the home or investment property really worth?

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For Sellers ….

One of the best ways to get a feel for the true market value of your home or investment property is to get a comparative market analysis from two or more local agents before you list your property for sale. Most agents should be happy to do this for free.

A comparative market analysis involves comparing your home or investment property with similar properties that have recently sold in your area. An agent should be able to give you a detailed description of similar properties that have recently sold in your area, including how much they were originally listed for, how long they were on the market before they sold, and how much they finally sold for.  Based on this information, the agent will suggest a sale price (or price range) for your home or investment property.

There are also a number of websites which allow existing home owners or investment property owners to receive a free, no obligation estimate of the value of their property by answering a few simple questions. These websites include:

priceyourproperty.com.au

promptpropertyprices.com

whatsyourpropertyworth.com

freemarketappraisals.com.au

whatpricemyhouse.com.au

These websites are generally networked with a number of Australian real estate agents, and a response is provided by email, usually within 72 hours.

For Buyers ….

So you have selected a home or investment property that you want to buy. How do you know if the owner is asking a fair price for the property?

The starting point is to compare the home or investment property with similar properties in the same area, and you will no doubt have done this when you were looking for a property to buy. It goes without saying that you should always have a good look at what is around before making a decision to buy a property - whether as a home or as an investment property. It might end up being a very big mistake to buy the first property you see without looking at what else is out there.

Have a look at the properties in the same suburb that are listed for sale on realestate.com.au, domain.com.au and other real estate websites. You can find links to all the major real estate websites (including links to the websites of all the major real estate agencies) at Real Estate Agents. Keep in mind though that the price at which a property is listed for sale is not necessarily the value of the property (or the price that the property will eventually sell for). Get a free ‘Suburb Snapshot’ report available at homepriceguide.com.au to find out the average level of seller discounting (as a percentage of the price) in your suburb of interest.

Both realestate.com.au and domain.com.au also have facility on their websites to search for details of recently sold properties. On realestate.com.au click on the ‘Sold Properties’ button on the left hand side of the home page, and on domain.com.au you need to click on ‘Search Recent Sales’.

Also available for free from Home Price Guide® by clicking on the ‘Auction Results & Recent Sales’ button at homepriceguide.com.au are details of recent property sales and record prices over the last 12 months in your selected suburb.

Would you like to know when the property you want to buy was last sold, and how much it sold for? And when the surrounding properties were last sold, and for how much? Well for a small fee you can easily find out.

The Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water (DNRW) has details of every property sale that takes place in Queensland, including the date of the sale and the sale price. This information is required by law to be included in the forms that must be lodged with the Department when ownership of a property is transferred.

This sales information is available in a variety of forms and from a variety of sources.

Information available from DNRW

You can order a Queensland Property Sales SmartMap or a Queensland Valuations SmartMap online from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water.

A Queensland Property Sales SmartMap is a map which shows the property that you intend to buy and surrounding properties. For each property the map shows the date when the property was last sold and the sale price. The maps are colour coded by year of sale, so that all properties which were last sold in the same calendar year are the same colour. This makes it easy to identify the most recent sales.

Queensland Property Sales SmartMaps vary in price from $19.50 up to $52.70 depending upon the size of the map that you want. The larger the map the more properties it will include.

A Queensland Valuations SmartMap is a map which shows the property that you intend to buy and surrounding properties, and for each property shows the date when the property was last sold and the sale price (just like a Property Sales SmartMap), but also shows the unimproved (ie. land) value for each property. These maps are not colour coded.

Queensland Valuations SmartMaps vary in price from $14.30 up to $43.50 depending upon the size of the map that you want. Again, the larger the map the more properties it will include.

You don’t need to get both a Property Sales SmartMap and a Valuations SmartMap – one or the other is enough. While the colour coding of the Property Sales SmartMap is useful, the Valuations SmartMap is both cheaper and contains the added bonus of unimproved land values, and is therefore probably the better option.

You can also get a QVAS sales search from the Department. These are a simple report which will give you details of previous sales of the property that you are interested in, including details of the sale dates and sale prices. QVAS sales searches cost around $15.

You can contact the Department of Natural Resources and Water in Brisbane on (07) 3227 6626.

Information available from RPData

RP Data has long been a provider of property sales and prices information to real estate agents throughout Queensland. Access to much of this information is now available online at reareports.realestate.com.au.

The reports available from RP Data include:

Suburb Sales History Report

A Suburb Sales History Report will show you details of all properties sold within your selected suburb over the past 12 or 24 months.  The Report provides details of the street address, land area, zoning, sale price and sale date for each property sold.

$39.95 (12 months)

$59.95 (24 months)

Detailed Suburb Profile

A Detailed Suburb Profile gives you the same information as a 12 month Suburb Sales History Report plus:

  • median sale prices and sales turnover for the past 10 years, and current median rents for different types of properties; and

  • details of all properties advertised for sale in the past 90 days (including, where available, photographs, addresses, listed prices, dates of first listing and a short description of each property).

$49.95

Individual Property Report

An Individual Property Report contains statistics on the number of sales, and the highest, lowest and median sale prices, in your selected suburb over the past 12 months, plus details of median sale prices over the past 10 years and percentage changes in prices over the last 5 years.  It will show details of up to 15 recent sales in the vicinity of the property you are interested in, and also includes a photograph of the property (and an aerial photograph).

$49.95

Street Sales History Report

A Street Sales History Report will show you details of sales in your selected street (going back up to 10 years).  The Report provides details of the street address, land area, zoning, sale price and sale date for each property sold.

$49.95

Postcode Sales History Report

A Postcode Sales History Report will show you details of all properties sold in the postcode area over the past 12 or 24 months.  The Report provides details of the street address, land area, zoning, sale price and sale date for each property sold.  It is the same as a Suburb Sales History Report, but covers multiple suburbs at once.

$49.95 (12 months)

$69.95 (24 months)

Property Investment Report

A Property Investment Report contains:

  • details of the unimproved (ie. land) value of the property that you are interested in, and details of previous sales of the property (including sale dates and prices);

  • a photograph of the property (including an aerial photograph);

  • median sale prices and sales turnover in the suburb for the past 10 years, and current median rents for different types of properties;

  • details of all properties sold in the suburb over the past 12 months; and

  • details of all properties advertised for sale in the past 90 days (including, where available, photographs, addresses, listed price, date of first listing and a short description of the property).

You can download a free example of each of these different reports so that you can see for yourself exactly the type of information that each report contains.

Information available from Home Price Guide®

Another source of online property reports is Home Price Guide®, who claim to be ‘…Australia’s leading source of reports for property prices…’ and to provide ‘ the most up-to-the-minute and detailed property sales information on line…’.

Home Price Guide® can be found at homepriceguide.com.au. To order one of their reports click on the ‘Home Price Guide® Products’ button.  The reports available from Home Price Guide® include:
 

Home Price Guide® Postcode

A Home Price Guide® Postcode report lists all properties sold in a postcode area over the past 12 or 24 months.  The report provides details of the street address, type of property, method of sale, sale price and (where available) the name of the selling agent and a description of each property.

$59.95 (12 months)

$99.90 (24 months)

Home Price Guide® Live

A Home Price Guide® Live report gives you all the same information as a Home Price Guide® Postcode report, but with the added advantage of a 3 month online subscription which gives you access to ongoing and updated historic sales prices for the past 24 months.

$99.95

Home Price Guide® Premium

A Home Price Guide® Premium report provides a comprehensive profile on your selected property and the suburb in which it is located.  The report includes:

  • a sales history of the property showing when the property has been sold in the past and at what price;

  •  the recent ‘for sale’ history of the property;

  • a sample of 10 comparable recent sales of other properties and a current market price estimate for the property, with a high-low range;

  •  the highest, lowest and median prices in the suburb for properties sold in the past 12 months and properties advertised for sale in the past 12 months, and changes in median prices over the past 3 to 5 years;

  • details of turnover and auction performance for the suburb and postcode; and

  • estimated market prices 12 months into the future.

$59.95

Home Price Guide® Street Level

A Home Price Guide® Street Level report lists all reported sales in your selected street (going back up to 10 years).  The report provides details of the street address, type of property, method of sale, sale price and (where available) the name of the selling agent and a description of each property.

$99.95

Information available from propertyvalue.com.au and residex.com.au

propertyvalue.com.au and residex.com.au are another source of online property reports.  You can check out their websites to find out what they have on offer and how much it costs.

Get a valuation

After all of this, if you still have any doubts about the value of the property that you wish to buy, you can get a registered valuer to do a formal valuation of the property. This will cost you around $350, and for that you will get the benefit of a written valuation report prepared by an independent registered valuer who inspects the property and assesses its current market value.

The Queensland Office of Fair trading strongly recommends that buyers get an independent valuation of a property either before they sign a sale contract, or else during the 5 day cooling-off period.

You can go to Valuers to find a registered valuer in your area.

 

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