Valuing a Large Public Housing Portfolio Using Mass Appraisal Methods

Public Housing Authorities are required to account for the financial performance and condition of their property portfolio on a regular basis. In Australia, where property and housing are largely the responsibility of State Governments rather than the Federal Government, public housing represents a significant proportion of a State’s asset base. As such, regular (annual), accurate and reliable portfolio values are required. Under international accounting and valuation standards, market values – not nominal replacement values based on costs – are required; even though most properties in the portfolio are not immediately marketable. Values (Land, Building and Rental) of individual properties, and groups of properties, are also required to effectively manage the portfolio.In New South Wales (NSW), the State Government housing portfolio (of 150,000+ dwellings) is managed by the Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC). The value of this portfolio is approaching $A 50b ($US 36b).How should such portfolio valuation and assessment tasks be undertaken to be able to make portfolio estimates to a given level of accuracy at a minimal cost; while also maximising the quality of valuation information at the individual property level?As this is an annual exercise, how can the rolling cycle of valuations be constructed to ensure quality improvement over time?These questions and related issues will be examined in the paper.