Ray WhitePat Lapalapa Group

Services

How a property appraisal works, and how to test one

An appraisal is an agent's opinion of what your home could sell for, and an opinion is only worth what stands behind it. This page sets out how we build ours, and how you can test any appraisal you are given, ours included.

An appraisal is an opinion, so the evidence is the point

Nobody can know a sale price before buyers have had their say. What an agent can do is show the work: which sales they looked at, why those sales matter for your home, and how wide the range needs to be. If you can follow that reasoning and check it yourself, the appraisal is useful. If you are only handed a number, there is nothing to test.

How we build an appraisal

Every appraisal starts with the same six things, and we show you each of them.

  • The home. Size, layout, condition, the land and what has been done to it, seen in person.
  • The street. What sits either side, the aspect, the noise, the walk to schools and transport.
  • Recent sales nearby. We list the sales we are leaning on and say how close each one is to your home and how recently it sold. A sale across town from a year ago carries far less weight than one two streets away from last month.
  • Who is buying right now. The buyers in the market this month, what they are asking for and what they are passing on.
  • A range, not a single number. The market answers with a spread of offers, so the honest answer is a spread too.
  • Why the range is as wide as it is. A tight range means close, recent, similar sales. A wide one means the evidence is thinner, and we say which part is thin.

Five questions to ask any agent about their appraisal

Put these to every agent you meet, and put them to us.

  1. Which sales is this based on? Ask for the addresses.
  2. How recent are they? Ask for the sale dates.
  3. How close are they, and how similar? Ask what is the same and what is different from your home.
  4. Why this range? Ask what would move it up and what would move it down.
  5. What happens if the market disagrees? Ask what the plan is if the first weeks of the campaign bring a lower response than the appraisal suggested.

When two appraisals are far apart

If you collect several appraisals and they are far apart, treat that as a reason to ask more questions. A higher figure can be right, so ask what sits behind it.

Ask which sales support the higher number. If they are closer, more recent and more alike, that is a real reason. If not, the figure may be harder to achieve, so ask what the plan is if buyers respond below it.

What an appraisal is not

  • It is not a valuation. A valuation is prepared by a registered valuer, for purposes such as lending, insurance or relationship property.
  • It is not a guarantee. The price is set by buyers, on the day, by auction or by negotiation.
  • It is not a promise about timing or the method that will suit you best.
  • It is not a quote for our services. Any fee is set out in writing in the agency agreement before you decide.

What happens at the visit, and after it

At the visit we walk through the home and the land, ask what has been done to it and what you are hoping for, and take notes and photos so we are working from what is really there.

After the visit you receive the appraisal in writing: the range, the sales it rests on with their distance and dates, what we think buyers will respond to and what they may push back on, and the options for how to sell. You can then take it to any other agent, or to a registered valuer, and compare it line by line.

Our auction results

79%

Auction success rate

Counted from 21 May 2026

Our team

The last 3 months, starting July 2026

Sold under the hammer
80%
Attracted active bidding
100%

Ray White AT Realty auction room

The last 3 months, starting July 2026

Sold under the hammer
59.2%
Attracted active bidding
92.8%

Barfoot & Thompson, Highbrook auction rooms, our own tracking on AuctionsLive

The last 3 months, starting July 2026

Our own count of auctions in their Highbrook rooms on AuctionsLive for the period shown. Barfoot & Thompson may count differently, so treat it as our tracking, not theirs.

Sold under the hammer
30.7%
Attracted active bidding
58.1%

Typical days to go unconditional

Auction
21 days
Unconditional 1 October 2025 to 22 October 2026
By negotiation
55 days
Unconditional 17 October 2025 to 2 September 2026

How these were counted

  • Auction success rate. Counted from 21 May 2026. Source: The AT Realty auction room's results (AuctionsLive), with sales after an auction checked against our own listing records (VaultRE). The share of the homes we list for auction that ended in a sale: sold under the hammer, before auction day, or after the auction. Every campaign is counted, in every suburb, including homes that passed in or were withdrawn and have not sold.
  • Our team: sold under the hammer. The last 3 months, starting July 2026. Source: The AT Realty auction room's results (AuctionsLive), counted lot by lot, matched to our own listing records (VaultRE). Sold under the hammer, out of every home taken to auction on the day including those that sold afterwards; every home our team took to auction on the day in the quarter; tracked lot by lot by us from AuctionsLive.
  • Our team: attracted active bidding. The last 3 months, starting July 2026. Source: The AT Realty auction room's results (AuctionsLive), counted lot by lot, matched to our own listing records (VaultRE). Homes taken to auction on the day where a bid was recorded or the home sold under the hammer, out of every home taken to auction on the day, counted lot by lot from AuctionsLive.
  • Ray White AT Realty auction room: sold under the hammer. The last 3 months, starting July 2026. Source: The AT Realty auction room's results (AuctionsLive), counted lot by lot. Sold under the hammer, out of every home taken to auction on the day including those that sold afterwards; weeks in the quarter where both auction rooms have results; tracked lot by lot by us from AuctionsLive.
  • Ray White AT Realty auction room: attracted active bidding. The last 3 months, starting July 2026. Source: The AT Realty auction room's results (AuctionsLive), counted lot by lot. Homes taken to auction on the day where a bid was recorded or the home sold under the hammer, out of every home taken to auction on the day, counted lot by lot from AuctionsLive.
  • Barfoot & Thompson, Highbrook auction rooms, our own tracking on AuctionsLive: sold under the hammer. The last 3 months, starting July 2026. Source: Barfoot & Thompson's Highbrook auction rooms on AuctionsLive, the weekly auction-room ledger we keep. Sold under the hammer, out of every home taken to auction on the day including those that sold afterwards; weeks in the quarter where both auction rooms have results; tracked lot by lot by us from AuctionsLive.
  • Barfoot & Thompson, Highbrook auction rooms, our own tracking on AuctionsLive: attracted active bidding. The last 3 months, starting July 2026. Source: Barfoot & Thompson's Highbrook auction rooms on AuctionsLive, the weekly auction-room ledger we keep. Homes taken to auction with a recorded bid, as the weekly auction-room ledger we keep from AuctionsLive counts them; a home sold under the hammer with no bid captured would not be in this count.
  • Typical days to go unconditional, auction. Unconditional 1 October 2025 to 22 October 2026. Source: Our office listing system (VaultRE).
  • Typical days to go unconditional, by negotiation. Unconditional 17 October 2025 to 2 September 2026. Source: Our office listing system (VaultRE).

How we count

These figures measure what happened on auction day, not how accurate any appraisal was, so they say nothing about whether an appraisal is right. They show how buyers have responded to our campaigns. Each is read from our records, with its period and source beside it. See the results beside two auction rooms

Book an appraisal in your suburb

Choose your suburb for an appraisal, or read how we work there.

Common questions

Is a property appraisal free?

Yes. An appraisal from us is free and carries no obligation to list with us.

Is an appraisal the same as a valuation?

No. An appraisal is an agent's opinion of a likely sale range. A valuation is prepared by a registered valuer and is the document to use when a lender or insurer needs one.

Why do you give a range instead of one number?

Buyers do not all value a home the same way, and the market answers with a spread of offers. A range shows that spread, and how wide it is tells you how strong the evidence is.

What should I do if two appraisals are far apart?

Ask both agents for the sales behind their figure, with the address, the date and how close and how alike each one is to your home. The gap usually comes down to which sales each agent is leaning on.

Can I use your appraisal to test another agent's?

Yes. That is what it is for. Take it, and the five questions on this page, to any other agent.

Read the guide: How a free property appraisal works

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