SECONDARY SOURCES OF INFORMATION
The secondary sources of sales data have the disadvantage of being less reliable than the primary sources outlined above. However, they have the advantage of being more up to date and/or providing useful non legal information about the sale.
PRIVATE SALES INFORMATION PROVIDERS
There are a number of private firms that provide sale and rental information for use by the property professional. They are usually in the form of a sales or rents schedule (summary) grouped in local government or suburban areas. However, specific submarket breakdowns are also available. The following is a list of services available from a typical private sales information provider:
LAND SALES INFORMATION
city or suburban reports - metro (cost per council area)
country reports with buyers & sellers names (cost per region)
broad acres covering all the state
specialist reports (homeunits, vacant land or commercial)
"the lot" - all reports
all sales on disk
fax facts/phone in
lot, block or unit enquiry
listing market
monthly statistics - by council or authority (metro or rural)
quarterly statistics - by postcode (metro or rural)
quarterly statistics - by suburb(metro or rural).
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS AS PROVIDERS OF SALE INFORMATION
Government departments are also a source of sale data summaries. The states and territories have composite cadastral, legal and other data available as a single record (known as a land information system (LIS)) available from the relevant department. The following is a list of the data available from a typical government department.
See land information system (LIS)
TYPICAL GOVERNMENT REAL ESTATE INFORMATION SERVICE
There are generally, 3 components in a general real estate information service:
sales history
statistics
property information.
SALES HISTORY
The sales history system contains all relevant sales information; the vendor and purchaser's name and address; the address of the subject property; the various property characteristics including construction type style, size and condition of the property; the actual and legal use of the property together with the date and consideration paid. The sales history file is updated on a daily basis from transactions output from the Valuation system. Output from the system includes:
monthly/annual reports
general ad hoc sales extracts
interactive on-line sales history reports
The data source is the central land transaction registry under the Torrens system. Therefore the integrity of the data is very high.
STATISTICS
Every 3 months, 4 basic statistics are automatically generated by
the sales history system:
residential price index which monitors price movements of residential properties.
residential sales categorized by level of sale price
vacant land price statistics that monitor price movements of vacant allotments.
rural land index that shows average prices per hectare.
PROPERTY INFORMATION SERVICE
The valuation branch or department provides a property information service that includes:
valuation list - land data including values for all properties
within a defined area.
ownership list - a list of all properties with the same ownership.
street index - a cross reference between the street address of a property, the valuation numbers and certificate of title reference.
certificate of title (CT) - a cross reference between the certificate of title reference, reference index property location and the valuation number.
REAL ESTATE AGENTS
Real estate agents are an invaluable source of information on local sales and rentals. In a rising market the valuer will find agents an important source of up date transactions.
ADVANTAGES
The information provided is up to date and can include sales in the process of completion. The agent can provide background information that will help decide whether or not the sale meets the criteria of the willing buyer willing seller theory.
In a period where the real estate market is rapidly changing, sales in the process of completion may be the only valid evidence of market value.
DISADVANTAGES
The information provided may be inaccurate as the agent's knowledge is hearsay unless he/she was personally involved in the sale. The information will most likely be verbal only and therefore, should be qualified in the valuation report. The sale should be stated as "reported". The sale cannot be used in court proceedings until complete and verified.
The information may been provided "in confidence". If information from agents is used it should be noted as verbal information only and subject to that obtained from a more formal source such as a notice of transfer.
INTERVIEWING THE PARTIES
Interviewing the parties may be considered as primary evidence but because the information obtained is usually informal it is better classified as secondary evidence. A valuer can obtain a great deal of information by interviewing the buyer and seller or the occupier of the sale property but this requires a good interviewing technique.
ADVANTAGES
A good interviewer can obtain a great deal of background information which can be most helpful in deciding whether or not the sale meets the requirements of the willing buyer willing seller theory. For example, whether or not the purchaser had looked at other properties, reasons for buying or selling and how the well the property was marketed.
DISADVANTAGES
The evidence may be inaccurate. The parties may not be prepared to reveal the full price for personal reasons or the information may be given in confidence. Therefore, the information should only be used in a valuation report with caution and subject to more formal verification. Time consuming but the interview could be by telephone.
BANKS AND LENDERS
A valuer may have a source of information through lending institutions such as a bank or building society. The institution will have the necessary sale data having been provided by the applicant for a mortgage loan. This is most likely to be made available to the valuer carrying out the valuation for the institution.
ADVANTAGES
The information is accurate and up to date. Some background information may also be available.
DISADVANTAGES
The information will most likely be confidential and therefore, cannot be used directly in the valuation report unless qualified or as evidence in court