Cerved Property Services becomes a proud member of the European AVM Alliance
Cerved Property Services (CPS) is the only Greek company in the field of Real Estate (abbr. RE) which envisioning the digital transformation of the industry, has been investing systematically for a decade, in new technologies, databases, scientific digital tools and specialized software systems.
This dedicated effort, despite made on a significantly volatile market that experienced unprecedented external shocks during the last decade, bared a very fruitful result. CPS is now a certified member of the European AVM Alliance (abbr. EAA), a European association of leading providers in the area of Automated Valuation Models (abbr. AVMs) that guarantees reliable and qualitative solutions in modern day valuation field.
AVMs are state-of-the-art models that utilize techniques & mathematical solutions, in order to automatically provide a current market value estimation either at an individual property level or at a portfolio one. The main advantages of this approach are higher objectivity, lower costs, time efficiency and the removal of volume handling issues that exist in conventional valuation techniques.
CPS AVM, comprises of three different models each one approaching the estimation from a different angle; a hedonic model, a comparables based model and an artificial neural network (abbr. ANN) model. This combination of models, with proper weighting, manages to capture the volatile characteristics of the Greek RE market as it weighs in the individual property characteristics, the inherent dynamic of the area and the behavior of similar properties on the market. Throughout the ten-year invest span, the development and improvement of CPS AVM has been academically supported by top tier local and foreign universities as well as by leading tech companies that design our operating systems and platforms that funnel the AVM services.
Despite the fact that AVM solutions have been present for several decades in more mature RE markets (e.g. since late 90’s in UK), in Greek RE market it was perceived as a novice idea when introduced by CPS several years ago. The main reason for this time lag is the absence of structured, digitized and reliable real estate databases. CPS has met this need based on its long presence on the market and its vast network of collaborators throughout the country.
CPS AVM has the distinctive feature that is based entirely on a database of valuations (incl. Surveyor Valuation’s, Drive-Bys & Desktop ones) performed by highly qualified and certified (by RICS or TeGoVa) valuers, spanning back to 2007. This is a rather competitive advantage against recent, much more “simplistic” approaches, which utilize more easily “tampered” data such as available listings. In addition to the historical database, upon which CPS AVM is based, the Research & Analytics Division of the company thoroughly maintains all available data such as transactions, listings, socio-economic & local market trend info. All databases are filtered through dedicated monitoring procedures established by CPS personnel in order to accompany the CPS AVM estimation with useful and actionable insights.
The aforementioned advantage was a key driver for the successful admission of CPS into the EAA. It is worth mentioning that CPS is only the ninth member of this elite alliance and the only one with active presence in the Greek RE market and in wider SE Europe.
AVM applications vary, depending on the nature of the user, and include indicatively services on mortgage origination level, portfolio management level or mass revaluation projects. CPS AVM has already established its credibility in the Greek market and has received a “vote of confidence”, as private management companies and financial institutions have used it successfully in large portfolio valuation projects.
Another area where AVM services can be utilized is that of real estate tax services. During 2018, CPS AVM has been used for the evaluation of the production and renewal procedure of Property Objective Value System, in a project financed by a European Commission body (Structural Reform Support Service – SRSS) on behalf of the Greek Ministry of Finance (MoF). This project included the utilization of CPS AVM as a quality assurance check mechanism that could verify, or produce in cases of contradictive info, the core element of the system; the zone value. Furthermore, an overall assessment of the system structure and operation was performed with the resulting proposed action being adopted in the subsequent 2020-2021 revision.
Aside from the core CPS AVM product, the company has invested in the creation of a larger range of digital tools, namely Residential & Commercial Price Indices, Risk Management (VaR) tools, Probabilistic Forecasting models, Marketability determination algorithms and Market Reporting tools. This pallet of products allows the prospective user/investor to synthesize an informed opinion and to acquire a comprehensive knowledge of the market with minimum effort, thus unlocking a much more detailed oriented portfolio management strategy.
The admission of our company to the EAA marks a milestone in our long and dedicated plan establish CPS as a leading company in Data Driven Real Estate Asset Management. CPS will continue to invest in funds and human capital towards the improvement of existing and development of new innovative high-tech solutions in the area of Valuations and Asset Management. As the newest members of the EAA we commit to the cause of increasing AVM awareness and disseminating a greater understanding of the benefits that AVM can deliver aiming to establish the high quality standards required to meet the market needs.