Jon Burridge, managing director of Quantum Mortgage Brokers, said he believed the technology would reduce the number of physical valuations required and force property valuers to focus on eradicating curious quotes.
Burridge pointed to a recent decision where despite having similar features, a ground-floor flat with a garden was priced at only three-quarters of the value of a flat in the same block but on a higher level.
He said: “You see that level of discrepancy maybe twice a year, but generally surveyors will need to buck up their ideas as the introduction of AVMs and Home Information Packs (HIPs) will mean there is less reliance on them. Surveying could become an unnecessary expense, so if they want to be in the market, they need to have some sort of responsibility to the borrower, instead of hiding behind the risk-factor for lenders.”
The introduction of AVMs has meant a large segment of the property market can now escape the need for a physical valuation but the percentage of deals currently coming under AVMs is still relatively tiny.
Richard Sexton, business development director at e.surv, insisted there would always be a need for physical valuations but sympathised when the kind of discrepancy Burridge suffered occurs.
“AVMs depend on physical inspections so there will always be a need for human valuers. Also, the idea of aligning ourselves closely with AVM valuations and referencing each other is very dangerous because it is when anomalies come up that it shows something is wrong.
“Mortgage lenders will always want an approach between AVMs and physical valuations so surveyors will always have an important role to play.”
