This is a survey of valuers during the 2022 Congress of the ASEAN Valuers Association (AVA) during November 22-24, 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.  It is conducted by Dr.Sopon Pornchokchai, President, Thai Appraisal & Estate Agents Foundation and Director, Thai Real Estate Business School, Thailand.

 

The Survey.

During the Congress, Dr.Sopon asked participants who were valuers in ASEAN countries to generously answer this questionnaire.  He gave participants a QR Code so that the questionnaire was paperless and convenient for the participants to answer.  Some 50 out of 420 participants answered this questionnaire.

 

Some 60% were from Indonesia who were the majority of the participants.  However, there were no significant difference in the views of Indonesian and non-Indonesian participants.  Therefore, this analysis would be analyzed as a whole without any classification into different countries.

 

The Preliminary Results

The following are some preliminary findings on valuers as well as the comparison of valuers among other professions.

 

 

Considering the years of being a valuer, the average was 14.6 years.  If one started his/her valuation career at 25, his/her average age should be almost 40 years old.  Most of the participants are at almost middle age (40 – 60 years old).  In most conference, participants were at this age.  They might be those who were successful in their career and could afford to pay for the conference fee.

 

Let’s see the assessment of valuers or the participants about their professional credibility.  If the credibility of medical doctors was full at 10, what should be that of valuers and other, namely, engineers, brokers, and property managers?  As a result, the credibility of valuers was 8.9 out of 10 which is quite high; whereas, engineers got 9.3.  It is understandable that engineers got more social acceptance than valuers; whereas, property managers got the credibility of 7.9.

 

It is interesting to see that the credibility of brokers was the lowest at 7.7%  In many countries in the ASEAN Region, particularly Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand there were no formal licensing system yet.  According to some previous surveys of Dr.Sopon, countries with brokerage licensing, the credibility of brokers was also lower than valuers.

 

The credibility of valuers were higher than brokers and property managers was because of the  accreditation by related government agencies varied in different countries such as  the  Securities and Exchange Commission, Ministry of Finance or the Board of Valuers and the like.  This was why a valuation firm could be sold at a certain price.  For example accredited valuation firms by the Securities and Exchange Commission could be sold at USD 160,000 – 300,000 per company.

 

Considering the betterment of the valuation profession, all of the respondents agreed that the credibility of valuers was better compared to 10 years ago?  The betterment was assessed to 55% with a standard deviation of 24%  This implies that the opinion were somewhat varied.  If the betterment was 55% in 10 years, this implied that it would be 4.7% per annum.  This was a moderate increase.

 

Obstacles for Valuers Today

44% of the respondents said it was about data.  Valuers need reliable database, the accuracy of data.  It is difficult to have the transaction and disclosure of data.  This implies that in the real world of valuers, their analysis might be in trouble due to the lack of information or data.  This implies to the credibility of valuers at large as well.

 

21% said about the regulations.  There are few or inadequate regulations for valuers.  This implies to the acceptance of our valuation profession because of the lack of control and protection to our professionals.  Valuers should be protected particularly by indemnity insurance; however, the majority of valuers might not yet buy this insurance in the ASEAN region.

 

12% mentioned about clients.  Client intervention on our professional practices about the preset value and expected valuer for them.  Many clients particularly financial institutions also expected speedy valuation report which would be risky for our valuers.  On the other hand, valuation fees tended not to be increased in accordance with inflation.  Sometimes, with intensive competition, fees were also reduced.

 

Other mentioned about ethics and valuation standards (9%), economic crisis (5%), ESG (Economic, Social and Governance) (5%), digital world (2%) and Covid-19 (2%).  Not many valuers realize that computerized transformation was a threat.  And very few were worried about Covid-19 in 2022-2023.

 

Knowledge / Techniques Needed for Valuers

30% of the valuers mentioned about analysis of data.  They might night have adequate knowledge how to analyze data properly.  Some were worried about forecast analytic, big data analysis, statistics, market analysis and the like.  ASEAN valuers needed not only data but also techniques how to analyze data properly as well.

 

15% were in the case of communication, i.e. the communication with clients particularly big ones and financial institutions or how to manage clients properly.  Valuers are a lot different from brokers.  Valuers tended not to deal closely with clients.

 

12% would like to know the techniques on how to valuer some specific properties such as the valuation of crypto-currency Assets and block chain.  In addition, many  like to learn about valuation of intellectual properties, plant and machinery valuation or the valuation of business particularly those “Start Up”.

 

Cross-border Cooperation among Valuers.

How to have better cross-border cooperation among valuers across the ASEAN Region?  Answers were interesting.  31% said about more frequent conferences, symposiums, forums, seminars, round table discussion and the like.  This would  be a good stlart for strong cooperation.

 

17% said about cooperation in research and studies, knowledge sharing, partnership and internship among valuers.  There should be some working committees.  Another 14% mentioned bout joint valuation exercises.  In addition, some student exchange programs can be conducted as well.  Some also mentioned about international or regional licenses among valuers in this region.

 

Suggestions for the Development of the Profession

35% mentioned about education.  For example, there should be some regional journals.  Lecturers among practitioners (not academicians) were also wanted.  Intensive CPD (Continuing Professional Development) program was also suggested.  There should also some share technology and knowledge among valuers.

 

20% suggested to help build reliable databases for property valuation with easy to access on reasonable fee basis. 15% mentioned about referral systems for valuers and the like.  This would be a great profit among SMEs valuation firms.

 

The Observation

That the largest proportion of valuers in the ASEAN Region mentioned about the lack of reliable data or information for analysis implied that our profession still needed to be upgraded.  Many were still have problems in data analysis and analytical tools for valuation.  Our professional needed to be standardized for the higher credibility accepted by the society.  There must be some concrete cooperation among valuers in this region too.  Uniting valuers with mutual benefits would be a way out for our profession.