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This paper examines the effects and root causes of client influence within the valuation profession in Kenya.

This study adopted a mixed research design incorporating a survey and experiment of registered and practising valuers in Kenya and interviews of key informants from registered and practising valuers, valuers' clients (commercial banks) and professional bodies.

The study found that client influence negatively impacts the valuation profession, contributing to inaccurate valuation outcomes, and it exists because of the valuation environment, represented by limited and unreliable information in Kenya and many other developing countries.

This study makes a critical contribution to the empirical literature as it introduces new insights into the impacts and causes of client influence by demonstrating how the valuation environment, characterised by poor information, contributes to client influence in Kenya, which is typical of many other developing countries.

The paper addresses the puzzling phenomenon of the ubiquity of economic forecasting, of which property market forecasting is but one instance, on the one hand, and the unreliability of such forecasts, on the other hand. The paper explains why property market forecasts fail, in a non-trivial sense, and why this problem is irredeemable.

This was a conceptual paper and was based on original thought and literature review.

This paper attributes the failure of property market forecasts to the inappropriate application of the methodology of the natural sciences to the social sciences by mainstream economics. Specifically, the problem is located in the positivist philosophy and the assumptions of methodological individualism and rational choice theory underlying neoclassical economic theory.

The paper makes an original contribution by clearly showing why and how the methodology of the natural sciences, especially physics, has been applied to economics and property market analysis, why this is inappropriate and why it leads to failure. The paper introduces a debate that has hitherto been mostly confined to philosophy and mainstream economics into the property or real estate discipline and in a manner that is accessible to a non-philosophy audience.

This paper develops a conceptual framework that is applicable in various compensation settings vis-a-vis relevant legal frameworks, compensation processes and practices, compensation outcomes and adequacy of resultant compensation by using a common evaluative framework, to address the lack of such a conceptual framework in the compensation literature. Also, by developing a new conceptual framework, this paper provides a platform and an analytical tool for anchoring and analysing future research on compensation for expropriation of various property rights.

This conceptual paper is based on original thought and review of literature on compensation for expropriation.

A critical analysis of existing literature on compensation for expropriation of customary properties reveals that most studies are inadequately informed by relevant compensation theories and that each study uses its own tailor-made analytical framework. This entails that there is no general conceptual framework for anchoring new studies in compensation and aid in extrapolating their results to similar populations and contexts.

This paper makes novel contribution to knowledge by developing a new conceptual framework for analysing compensation for expropriation of customary property rights, which is not there currently. Essentially, by developing the new conceptual framework, this paper provides a basis for anchoring new research works in compensation and their analyses, thereby making a further contribution to knowledge.

This paper examines participants' opinions on whether valuation education and training in Kenya is adequate while comparing it to actual material conditions.

This research is based on a survey of registered and practicing valuers in Kenya, interviews of key informants from professional bodies and the five universities offering real estate degree courses in Kenya, and a review of Kenya's real estate curricula and Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) training.

It was perceived that while valuer education and training in Kenya is satisfactory, it differs from actual material conditions as it fails to cover practical issues in valuation practice.

The study makes a critical contribution to the empirical literature by introducing new insights in valuation education and training in Kenya.

Challenges of property data in developing markets have been reported by several authors. However, a deep understanding of the actual nature of this phenomenon in developing markets is largely lacking as in-depth studies into the actual nature of data challenge in such markets are scarce in literature. Specifically, the available literature lacks clarity about the actual nature of data challenges that developing markets pose to valuers and how this affects valuation practice. This study provides this understanding with focus on the Lagos property market.

This study utilises a qualitative research approach. A total of 24 valuers were selected using snowballing sampling technique, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 software.

The study finds that the main data-related challenge in the Lagos property market is the lack of database of market property transactions and not the lack or absence of transaction data as it has been emphasised in previous studies. Other data-related challenges identified include weak property rights institution with attendant transaction costs, underhand dealings among professionals, undocumented charges, undisclosed information, scarcity of data relating to specialised assets and limited access to the subject property and required documents during valuation. Also, the study unbundles the factors responsible for these challenges and how they affect valuation practice.

The study has implication for practice in the sense that the deeper knowledge of data challenges could provide insight into strategy to tackle the challenges.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by offering a fresh and in-depth perspective to the issue of data challenges in developing markets and how the peculiar nature of the real estate market affects the nature of data challenges. The qualitative approach adopted in this study allowed for a deep enquiry into the phenomenon and resulted into an extended insight into the peculiar nature of data challenges in a typical developing property market.

The pricing of professional service has been identified as one of the factors influencing the quality of service and willingness of clients to pay. However, the issue of service pricing is hardly seen as an object of discourse in real estate literature, especially among valuation studies, as it is obtainable in other fields. In Nigeria, it has become the practice for some sets of clients, especially financial institutions, to fix valuers’ remuneration based on the fact that these clients have market advantage. This practice and some other issues around pricing of valuers’ services have been going on for some years with little or no research insights from academics. The purpose of this paper is to examine the pricing system of valuation services within the Lagos property market with the aim of providing information to better valuation practice.

This study assumes an interpretive paradigm and adopts a qualitative research approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 registered valuers practising within the Lagos property market. Snowballing sampling technique was employed in selecting the registered valuers who were active in the practice of valuation in the study area. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 software.

This study finds that the pricing system for valuation services in the study area can be broadly categorised under “negotiation” and “fixed rate” systems while the use of the “professional scale of charges” is more or less non-existent. The study also reveals various forms by which these systems are practised, and issues associated with them as well as the effects they have on valuation practice. The study further reveals the factors responsible for the continuous striving of the present pricing system which includes valuers’ inability to enforce the professional scale, competition in the market, buyers’ market syndrome, the game of numbers and the banks’ strategy to protect their customers. The authors also found that the low pricing of valuation service poses challenges to valuation practice and encourages unprofessional conducts that affect the quality of valuation output. The study also provides, albeit limited, an evidence of the relationship between valuation fee and quality of valuation.

This study is limited to Lagos property market and only the practising valuers. Insights from other major cities and stakeholders in service pricing like clients and regulatory authority may produce more insightful results.

This study provides important insights into valuers’ experience in the area of service pricing and how this affects the delivery of professional services. It also serves as the research blueprint in giving research attention to the service pricing in property valuation practice.

Uniquely among the built-environment professions in the country, professional valuers in South Africa until recently did not require to have a university degree. The vast majority of professional valuers therefore, especially at senior levels, hold the national diploma as the highest academic qualification. There is evidence to suggest that many regard this state of affairs as unsatisfactory. Given the foregoing, the purpose of this paper is to answer two interrelated questions, first, whether South African trained and educated valuers were “competent” and met industry standards, and, second, whether the South African valuation curriculum met international norms.

Empirical data for the study were obtained by way of a survey of valuers registered on the South African Council of the Property Valuers Profession (SACPVP) database and a case study of the University of Cape Town’s valuation curriculum. The survey involved the mailing of an online questionnaire, using the “Survey Monkey platform”, to 2,062 individuals, representing the total population of valuers registered with the SACPVP, across all registration categories. A total of 324 individuals, or 15.7 per cent of the target population, responded to the survey.

Results from the study on the first question showed that it was professional status and length of experience, rather than academic qualifications, which correlated with competence. In addition, the results suggest that there are grounds for concern regarding proficiency in at least some of the valuation methods across the board. Further, the study revealed significant levels of dissatisfaction amongst employers with the general competence of valuers under their supervision. On the second question, the study concludes that the South African valuation curriculum did not meet international norms in terms of certain criteria.

The paper recommends a review of the South African valuation curriculum; to allow for a differentiation between the different academic levels, to facilitate a more conceptual approach at the higher levels, and to close the identified gaps in knowledge and skill-sets arising from both a deficient curriculum and a changing industry landscape.

At a time when attempts are being made to improve standards in the South African valuation profession, the study makes a critical contribution, by identifying areas where the national curriculum is deficient, both in terms of industry requirements and relative to international norms.