Capturing sustainability-related information for property valuation

Within current property markets, sustainability characteristics enhance and complement the traditional drivers of a property's economic value. However, sustainability-related information needs to be considered within the property valuation process to account for how this impacts upon a building's valuation. This requires adjusting and further developing valuation procedures. Most sustainability assessment systems coexist in isolation beside the traditional instruments and methods of the property industry, e.g. property valuation and risk analyses. This paper shows that the sustainability assessment of buildings can be adapted to serve as a key source of information for several actors in property markets (particularly valuation professionals). The information requirements of valuation professionals are explored in relation to sustainability. A structure for information is proposed that enables valuation professionals to reach an improved and more systematic description of buildings for valuation purposes combining both traditional as well as sustainability-related aspects. Several actors (sustainability assessors, designers, planners and facility managers) have a role (1) in providing an improved description of buildings along their life cycle and (2) in creating a more robust informational basis for property valuations. This would provide a competitive advantage for these actors (or for some 'early adopters' among them) by responding to the sustainability-related information requirements of valuation professional and their financial colleagues within the property industry.