How to value a property: comparables, AVMs and the right asking price

Start with comparables — the real ones

Every valuation is built on comparison: what has sold — not what is being asked — in the same area, with similar size, condition and features. The difference matters. Portal prices are asking prices, not closing prices: they tell you what the owner hopes for, not what the buyer paid. Use them to see the competition your property will face, not to set its value.

Where to find real closing prices

In both markets we work in there are public sources based on real transactions:

• Spain: the Notaries’ Statistical Portal, run by the General Council of Notaries, publishes the prices of sales executed before a notary. You can draw your own area on the map, go down to street level and see the average price per square metre, the average size and the average amount.
• Estonia: the transactions database of the Land and Spatial Development Board (Maa- ja Ruumiamet, formerly the Land Board) provides statistics on sales by county, municipality and period. Mind two limits the service itself points out: the data is informative and may be corrected, and total value and area are only shown when there have been at least five transactions.

Neither gives you the price of a specific home: they give you the real market of an area. That is exactly what you need for your range to be defensible.

Adjust for the differences

A comparable is never identical. Each difference adds to or subtracts from it, and it is worth writing each one down so you can explain it to the owner later:

• Condition and renovation: kitchens and bathrooms weigh more than you would think.
• Floor, orientation, lift, street-facing or interior.
• Energy efficiency and running costs. In Spain the energy label is also mandatory in all sale or rental advertising under Royal Decree 390/2021, so the buyer will see it.
• Real extras: garage, storage room, terrace, views.
• What the buyer does not see in the photo: registered charges, tenants, pending works. You check them in the registry; you do not assume.

The goal is not a magic number but a range with its reasons. An owner accepts a price far more easily when they understand where it comes from.

Official values are not the market price

In Spain there are two cadastral figures that should not be confused with the price. The cadastral value exists for tax purposes, usually sits well away from the market and is protected data. The reference value matters differently: since Law 11/2021, for Transfer Tax and for Inheritance and Gift Tax, the tax base of a property is its reference value, or the declared value if that is higher.

The practical consequence: on a resale home, if the sale price falls below the reference value, the buyer is taxed as if they had paid the reference value. It is not an argument for raising the price, but it is something the buyer — and their adviser — will look at, and you should know it before they do.

And an official valuation is something else again: in Spain it is signed by a valuation company approved by the Bank of Spain, and in Estonia by a certified valuer (hindaja). An agency valuation does not replace it and should never be presented as if it did.

What an AVM adds, and what it does not

An AVM — automated valuation model — crosses data from many transactions and returns an estimate with a range and a confidence level in seconds. It is useful as an objective starting point and to spot when your instinct has drifted. But its quality depends entirely on the data behind it: with few transactions in the area, the range widens and confidence drops. It does not replace your judgement or the visit to the property; it checks them.

Buyers do not negotiate with your price — they compare it with the one next door. Price it right and you sell sooner and for more.

The right asking price

The best asking price is the one that draws viewings in the first weeks, when the property is new on the market and gets the most attention. Too high and you waste that peak; too low and you leave money on the table. The comparables range, refined with your knowledge of the area, marks that point. Agree from the start when you will review the price if viewings do not come: it is much easier to agree it beforehand than to argue about it afterwards.

What Domuspace does here, and what it does not

It is worth being clear: Domuspace does not offer an automated valuation today. AI-based estimation is listed in the product as “Coming soon”, with no date, and we would rather say so than sell it. What it does today is give you the basis to value well and present it better:

• On the cadastral map you tap a plot and get its official data — area, use and postcode, and in Estonia also the official value and the registered buildings — without leaving the record, and store right there the bedrooms, bathrooms, area and price you have found out.
• The brochure presents the property to the buyer on a web page with their name on the cover, the exact or approximate location on a map and nearby places; the client saves it as a PDF from their browser.
• The monthly report in the calendar, for the administrator, counts viewings, contracts, calls, hours and properties visited per employee, so you know how much prospecting work you are really doing.

Turn the valuation into a listing

A well-explained valuation is your best argument for winning the exclusive: it shows you know the market and protect the owner’s interest. Hand it over in writing, with the comparables, the sources, the adjustments and the range — not as a bare number. And if the plot has more history than it seems, check first what the cadastre and the registry say.