Is automated property valuation really reliable?

In just a few years, automated real estate valuation has become a common sight. With a single click, it is now possible to obtain an estimated value for a property using algorithms, transaction databases, and statistical models.

Fast, free, and accessible, these valuations naturally appeal to both sellers and buyers. But a crucial question remains: can an algorithm truly assess the value of a property?

In highly standardized markets—new apartments, large cities, comparable properties—these tools can achieve a relatively good level of accuracy. Their effectiveness relies on the analysis of thousands of past transactions: surface area, location, price per square meter, property type, and local market dynamics.

But their reliability drops rapidly as soon as the product deviates from the norm.

Atypical housing, apartment buildings, renovated old properties, particular micro-locations or inactive markets: in these situations, the machine quickly reaches its limits.

Because an algorithm doesn't "understand" a good. It compares it.

However, real estate remains a deeply imperfect, emotional, and human market.

An automated estimate does not perceive the real quality of a building, the brightness of an apartment, the noise, the real tension between supply and demand, or even the psychology of buyers at a given moment.

And yet, it is often these invisible elements that greatly affect the real value of an asset.

The main risk of automated estimations is not just error. It is sometimes the illusion of precision they produce.

An extremely precise figure, such as 487.320 euros, immediately gives an impression of certainty. However, this is often a statistical average, not a true market price.

Because in reality, a property is never worth an exact figure. It is worth what a buyer is willing to pay at a specific time, in a given context.

This does not mean that automated tools are useless. On the contrary, they allow us to quickly obtain an order of magnitude, to follow market trends, or to compare certain sectors.

But they do not replace human analysis, especially in strategic decisions.

Perhaps the modern paradox lies here: never have estimation tools been so powerful, and yet the real understanding of real estate value remains deeply linked to the land.

The future of real estate valuation will probably be neither 100% human nor 100% algorithmic.

The most reliable models will undoubtedly be those capable of combining the power of data, field expertise and a nuanced understanding of local dynamics.

Because the algorithm calculates.

But the expert, for his part, interprets.

And it is often in this gap that the true value of an asset lies.

Opinion piece by Benjamin Leiba, co-founder of Primomanda (LinkedIn).