Desktop valuation (avis de valeur)

An avis de valeur (opinion of value) gives a figure; a valuation report demonstrates it. That is the distinction the Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (French property valuation charter) draws from its very first title: unlike a simple opinion of value, which states a value without demonstration, a property valuation justifies and demonstrates the value according to a rigorous methodology, requires a prior engagement contract and engages the professional liability of the valuer. The opinion of value is the document an estate agent commonly issues before a property is put on the market, or which a valuer agrees to provide on documents alone, without inspection, when time or budget do not allow a full valuation.

It is not without use: preparing a sale, checking an order of magnitude before starting proceedings, informing a management decision. But it does not replace a valuation report before a notaire (French civil-law notary) handling an estate, a judge or the tax authority, all of whom expect a demonstration.

Where the rule comes from

Title I chapter 1 of the Charter (6th edition, November 2025) reserves the term property valuation for the service of a valuer meeting its conditions, and § 1.1 lists what distinguishes it from the opinion of value. Title II chapter 8 recalls that the opinion of value must be clearly distinguished from valuation engagements, and § 8.6 describes the desk-based opinion: prepared without a physical inspection, usually requested at short notice with incomplete information, it requires complete transparency (list of documents received and missing, stated assumptions, brief conclusions) and cannot claim the rigour of a valuation carried out to the standard. The European Valuation Standards 2025 allow a restricted inspection or a desktop valuation, provided the report says so, because factors affecting value may not have been identified.

In a valuation report

When I accept a desk-based engagement, I say so in the engagement letter and in the document delivered: no inspection, list of documents received and of those missing, assumptions adopted (presumed condition, declared floor areas, stated letting situation), sources of the comparables, brief conclusion with a range rather than a point value. I state the purpose for which the opinion is intended and the purposes for which it is unsuitable. If, on reading the file, the value appears sensitive to matters that only an inspection could verify (condition, nuisances, layout), I say so and offer to convert the engagement into a full valuation.

Example

Before a family meeting, a notaire asks for an order of magnitude for a 120 m² house and sends the title deed, the energy performance certificate, recent photographs and the cadastral extract. The desk-based opinion concludes, from seven sales in the area, at a range of €230,000 to €260,000, subject to the actual condition of the property and the absence of defects. The heirs then decide to commission a full valuation with inspection for the inheritance tax return: the report concludes at €238,000, after finding that the roof needs repair, which the photographs did not show.

Not to be confused with

A property valuation report involves an inspection, a prior contract and a demonstration. An online estimate is a statistical calculation with no human intervention. A critical review (seconde lecture) is the examination of an existing report, not a new estimate.