A new website has been launched by Calnea Analytics, the Daily Mail-owned company that is official number cruncher to the Land Registry.
The site is intended for property professionals, including estate agents, surveyors, lenders and advisers who need access to residential property data.
Users will be able to search Calnea’s database for information on a specific property, identify comparable properties to help them make accurate valuations, and produce customized PDF valuation reports.
They will also be able to use a ‘fly by’ feature to look at property data via building outlines overlaid on to aerial imagery.
Calnea’s automated valuation reports, approved by Standard & Poor’s, and by Fitch Ratings, can be purchased from the site.
The cost of using the site is £28 per month plus VAT, which can be paid by card online. You should be able to use the link below to get a feel of what it offers, after being prompted to provide your email address.
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Comments
I am responsible for the sale of a 2 bed bungalow about 1170 sqft an identical one sold last November for £166,000.
A bungalow round the corner with 4 bedrooms (not 2) is sale agreed according to the flyby at £239,000
Does logic suggest that a Calnea "worth" figure of £240,000 is about right for a 2 bedroom bungalow?
Look at the problem this potentially causes. Are the Agent and the Executors of the bungalow sold last November negligent in under selling that property £80,000 below its true worth.
The 3 Agents who have valued my place at £180,000 are trying to pull a fast one too.
I have submitted a probate valuation based on the figures supplied to me by 3 agents but if HMRC were to look at Calnea it will show up that I have mis-represented the value of estate by £60,000.
With best part of 30 years valuation experience I simply can not work out how Calnea is coming up with the figures it is. Without suitable explanations caveats or cautions over the figures suplied the site could cause a lot of distress and possible litigation.
You might not like what I have put but trust me, what you are giving out and allowing end users to access needs to be correct.
Don't patronise me by suggesting I need a better understanding of your product I have spent more than a few hours doing beta release level testing on your offering and found that it is simply wrong.
No property outside London has increased in value 26% in 10 months yet Calnea figures promote the idea that they have.
Property valuation is not something to get so badly wrong and you ought to be concerned that you have not properly tested the data and the outputs from your site on a countrywide basis.
Rather than me needing to look around your product I suggest you do before a lender lends out £300,000 on a shed worth £150,000 based on your valuation tools.
Calnea has not been thoroughly tested and should not be available for the public or lenders to access till it has.
Really like the new site. Much easier to use than the old one and I've found the assisted valuation reports to be really useful to show to my clients. Keep up the good work!
In response to IvorGrumble's points - the purpose of our property database is to provide Calnea users with comparables to assist them in performing their own valuations. The 'Worth' column which you mentioned is not the same as our automated valuation product (used by lenders), but is a rough indicator designed to allow users to filter comparables.
The information which our users tend to turn to when making a valuation is sold price data, historic estate agency listings information, floor plans and surveyor records.
You may be interested to see our Fly-by search which allows you to search for comparables in your area. If you would like to find out more, you can visit our product page by going to: http://www.calnea.com/our-products/comparables-database/fly-by-search/
Ivor, if you would like to understand our products in more detail we would be happy to set you up with some trial access to the site.
The new site is baffling me. I am buying a house at the moment and used www.mouseprice.com to value it at the beginning of the process. This seemed to go off to a Calnea valuation system that asked me a number of fairly detailed questions about the property. Then I was given a valuation in a range based on the standard deviation expected in that area. This is a hard to value country property. Surprisingly my further investigation and comparison suggest that this valuation was fairly accurate. Lets say, it was overvaluing by £10-15k, not bad. The vendors asking price was 55k over the Calnea valuation. I secured an 8% reduction in the asking price. I'm still paying a bit over the market value but, hey-ho, in the countryside its all a bit difficult to call and every house is unique and this is a very good one.
So imagine my surprise as close to exchange I decided I need to revisit pricing just to make myself feel more confident before I press the big button and pay the huge deposit. I found the new Calnea site and re-valued my purchase. This time the site does not ask the kind of detailed questions that it did before, I can enter the floor area and an approximate spend since the last valuation, but I can't enter some of the detailed data that I could with the previous system.
Imagine my surprise when the system valued my house to be at 65k over the previous valuation from Calnea, and more than the vendors original asking price.
The new Calnea number seems systematically higher by a substantial amount and considerably less accurate. I think I'm paying at least 10 and possibly 25k over the 'true' state of the market, but Calnea is telling me I'm getting a discount of 55k. I think I know more about the values in this area than they do. I am disappointed that a service that seemed fairly accurate, give and take the limitations of an approach like this, seems to have been wrecked.
"A new website has been launched by Calnea Analytics, the Daily Mail-owned company that is official number cruncher to the Land Registry"
I have just had a look at a couple of properties I know quite well; mine! The word "worth" on a site as official as one connected to the land registry ought to have some substance. Now call me old fashioned but mean average is not what a property is "worth" picking an arbitary high figure and an artibary low figure and plonking for one in the middle is negligent.
There is no rhyme or reason that I can see for the figures used to jusify my valuation and can forsee such a tool causing considerable discord.
I checked out a property that I am currently selling on behalf of the Executors of an Estate, the Calnea figure is 22% higher than the 3 Agent average provided for and declared for probate.
I checked out the comparables report for similar properties, the most recent sales figure show a 25% increased worth from sale price last November and another showing a 6% increase since June.
There has been much discussion on this forum about price discrepancies and here is an example of a very poor website that is being used by lenders and advisors.
I have to say I was very pleased with the valuation on my wooden shed by the sea, Calnea estimate it is "worth" over £300,000 more than even the stupidly over exaggerated expectations for an "escape to the sea" beach hut. The "shed" next door sold for £150,000 last November according to Calnea it is now worth between £370,000 and £644,000 with an average worth at £507,000.
This valuation tool is simply wrong, its release shows a negligent approach to property valuations and a complete lack of understanding of how properties should be valued.
A useful tool for the new passive agents waiting patiently in the wings.
Yes great but whats the site Roz?