Residential and Rural Valuation
Residential and Rural Valuation tests practical application to houses, units, lifestyle blocks and productive rural land. Residential work turns on comparable sales, location, floor area, site, condition, zoning and tenure. Rural work adds soils, contour, water, carrying capacity, farm improvements, horticulture or forestry, and sustainable earnings.
Residential evidence
Adjust for sale date, location, site size, floor area, bedroom count, garaging, condition and title. A cross-lease or leasehold interest needs separate analysis. Check weathertightness, earthquake damage and unconsented works.
Rural evidence
Rural value is usually expressed per effective hectare and supported by whole-farm comparisons. Key drivers are effective area, stock units or production, soil type, contour, rainfall, irrigation, water permits, access, buildings and compliance. A dairy farm is not valued on land area alone.
Worked example
A 150 ha effective dairy farm is compared with a 120 ha sale at $38,000/ha. The sale is smaller, so you apply a 10% scale premium to the subject: $38,000 × 1.10 = $41,800/ha. The subject has 5% better soil, adding $2,090/ha, giving $43,890/ha. For 150 ha, indicated value is about $6.58 million. Cross-check against production and capitalised earnings.
Traps
- Comparing total farm prices without adjusting for area and production.
- Ignoring water permits, effluent compliance or wintering capacity.
- Treating proposed subdivision as certain.
- Missing leasehold or Māori land tenure.
- Using gross rather than effective area.