This is a survey of valuers during the 53rd Indian Valuers Congress of the Institution of Valuers (IOV) India during December 16-18, 2022 in Guwahati, Assam, India.  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 India 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 500 participants answered this questionnaire.

 

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 18.3 years.  If one started his/her valuation career at 25, his/her average age should be around 43 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 8.7 out of 10 which is quite high; whereas, engineers got 9.0.  It is understandable that engineers got more social acceptance than valuers; whereas, property managers got the credibility of 7.4

 

It is interesting to see that the credibility of brokers was the lowest at 6.7%  In many countries in Asia including 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 69.4% with a standard deviation of 18.5%  This implies that the opinion were somewhat varied.  If the betterment was 69.4% in 10 years, this implied that it would be 5.4% per annum.  This was a moderate increase.

 

Obstacles for Valuers Today

The largest proportion of valuers said the (redtape) authorities were one main obstacle.  Another 19% said about data particularly the lack of reliable data for analysis.  Clients particularly large entities and banks were another obstacle (17%).  It should be mentioned that Covid-19 was not considered an obstacle anymore in India.

 

Table 2: What are obstacles for valuers today?

Authorities                                                 22%

Data                                                         19%

Clients                                                      17%

Competence                                              13%

Fee                                                          10%

Standards                                                  6%

Coordination                                              5%

ESG                                                          2%

Indemnity                                                  2%

Technology                                                1%

Economy-International                                1%

Covid-19                                                   1%

 

Knowledge / Techniques Needed for Valuers

A major knowledge needed was analytical technique contributing for 23%.  This was the most salient knowledge required for valuers.  In addition, information technology was another major knowledged needed.  Others were co application / tools, communication, case studies and the like.

 

Table 3: What are knowledge / techniques needed for valuers today?        

Analytical Techniques                                 23%

Information Technology                             10%

Application / Tools                                     8%

Communication                                         8%

Case Studies                                             7%

Intangible Assets                                       7%

Economics                                                5%

Laws & Regulations                                   3%

Machinery Valuation                                  3%

Discounted Cashflow                                 3%

Engineering                                              3%

Finance                                                    3%

GIS                                                          3%

Income Approach                                      3%

Property Management                                2%

AVM                                                         2%

Land Developments                                   2%

Cost Approach                                          1%

 

Cross-border Cooperation among Valuers.

How to materialize cross-border cooperation among valuers was an important issue.  Cross border education was mentioned as the first priority (38%).  There should be some exchange program among valuers from different countries (16%). Then there was a need for collaboration among associations from different countries (11%) as well as common regulations and standards (11%)

 

Table 4: How to have better cross-border cooperation among valuers across the Asian Region?  

Cross Border Education                                  38%

Exchange Program                                        16%

Collaboration among associations                   11%

Common Regulations/Standards                     11%

Being Members of AVA/RICS/IVSC                  6%

Partnership                                                  6%

Data Sharing                                                4%

Research & Case Studies                               4%

Magazine & Journal                                      3%

 

Suggestions for the Development of the Profession

Considering Suggestions for the Development of the Profession.  There are as follows:

- Application of Artificial Intelligence

- Bring young generation to this field

- Continuous professional development

- Create a credible journal publish every 3 month minimum

- Create a database at a reasonable cost

- Create more cooperation among valuer fraternity

- Entry level for this profession should be made from college level

- Ethical conduct of profession

- Formation of a Valuation Council / Bill

- Full time practice as a valuer

- Invite experts of other countries to our programs / committees

- Uniformity of fee structure

 

These issue centred around technology, cooperation, education and the like.  However, in India, there were many part-time valuers.  This should be a full time job.

 

The Observation

In India, related red-tape authorities was an obstacle.  In addition, the largest proportion of valuers in India 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 valuers in India needed to be standardized for the higher credibility accepted by the society.  There must be some concrete cooperation among valuers in different countries as well.  Indian valuers were preparing themselves to practice abroad as well.