Portfolio valuation and periodic revaluation

A portfolio is not a stack of separate valuations. When properties are valued at different times, by different people, on bases nobody wrote down, the totals cannot be added and the comparisons mean little. A portfolio review fixes that first: every asset is valued on a stated basis — normally market value, and market rent where the property is let — as at one valuation date.

The consistent basis and the common date matter more than any single figure. A set of numbers built the same way shows which assets carry the value and which are static. Where the portfolio is revalued on a cycle, annually or at each accounting date, the movement between reviews is movement in the market or in the assets, not an artefact of who valued what and when. Reports follow RICS Valuation — Global Standards, so the basis and assumptions are stated on the face of each valuation.

The schedule of assets

The deliverable is a schedule of every asset, supported by the individual valuations behind it. For each asset it records:

What it is. Address, parcel and registration reference, plot and covered areas, the buildings and their condition, and the current use.
Its legal position. Registered ownership and shares, whether title is separate or the property is held under a contract of sale, encumbrances on the search, the planning zone, and whether permits and final approval are in place. Anything unresolved is recorded as unresolved, not assumed away.
Its value. The figure, the basis, the date, and any special assumption it depends on.
The evidence. The transactions, rental evidence or cost information relied on, and the adjustments made from it to the asset.

Owners use the schedule in several directions: a carrying value for the accounts with the inputs behind it; a reference document for discussions with lenders about existing facilities; figures your tax adviser can plan from and your lawyer can use for succession; and internally, one agreed list of what the group owns and what it is worth.

Hold, sell or develop

With the portfolio on a common footing, individual assets can be examined. For a given property we set out what it is worth as it stands, what it would be worth if sold now, and what it would be worth if the alternative you are considering were carried out — refurbishment, a change of use, subdivision or development. Each option is valued on the same basis, with the cost and time of getting there stated separately from the value at the end. The output is not an instruction: it is a valuation of each option with its assumptions written down, so the decision remains yours.

Highest and best use

Highest and best use is a discipline, not a description of ambition. It asks which use is physically possible, legally permissible under the zone and the permits obtainable, and financially feasible; among the uses passing all three, it is the one producing the highest value. A use needing a consent you are unlikely to obtain is not the highest and best use, however attractive it looks. Applied properly, the test often shows the existing use is the right one.

Development sites: residual value and feasibility

For a development site, value is normally approached through a residual appraisal: the value of the completed scheme, less construction and professional costs, finance, statutory fees, sale costs and the developer's required return, leaving the amount that can be paid for the land. A feasibility appraisal runs the same arithmetic forward to show whether a proposed scheme covers its costs and produces a return.

A feasibility shows whether a scheme works on stated inputs, and how much room there is before it stops working. It does not prove the scheme will be built, that consent will be granted, that costs will hold, or that units will sell at the values assumed. Residual figures are arithmetically sensitive: small changes in sales values or build costs produce large changes in land value. The appraisal is therefore presented with its inputs exposed and a sensitivity analysis attached, showing a range rather than one figure.

Let property: rental evidence and income

Where property is let, income is examined alongside capital value: the passing rent under each lease, the term and review provisions, the outgoings position and the tenant, against market rent from comparable lettings. That gap, in either direction, is often the most important single fact about an investment asset. It tells you whether income should rise at review and how much of the capital value depends on the current tenant staying. Where value is derived from income, the yield applied is stated and explained. Rental evidence in Cyprus is thinner than sales evidence in many locations; where that is so, the report says so.

What a valuation can and cannot do

A valuation is useful in a negotiation because it replaces assertion with a documented position: what the asset is worth on the evidence, and where your position is strong or weak. It does not set the price or bind the other side. A buyer may pay more or less for reasons of their own. A bank lending in Cyprus instructs its own panel valuer and will not accept a report commissioned by the borrower for its credit decision — see valuations for bank lending.

The boundary matters equally. We provide property valuation and valuation-based advice. We do not give investment advice, tax advice or legal advice. We produce the property figures and the reasoning behind them in a form your accountant, tax adviser and lawyer can work from, and we discuss them with those advisers directly. We work alongside them, not in place of them, as on our page for professionals. We do not act as agents on property we value, and our fee never varies with the figure reported.

Succession and family division

Family portfolios are the most likely to end in dispute, and the dispute is usually about value rather than entitlement. Where property is divided between heirs, or transferred during the owner's lifetime, an independent valuation of each asset on a common basis and date gives everyone the same starting point. It shows what each parcel is worth relative to the others, which matters more than the total when the object is an equitable division, and makes an unequal split quantifiable, so it can be corrected in cash. Because the figures come from someone with no interest in the outcome, they are harder to dismiss as convenient. Date-of-death work is covered on our probate and inheritance valuation page.

How an engagement runs

Scope and deliverable, agreed in writing. The assets included, the basis and date, the level of inspection, the form of the schedule, the reliance party and the fee. Nothing starts before this is accepted.
Inspection programme. Visits scheduled with you and with occupiers, so access is arranged once rather than asset by asset.
Evidence. Title and planning documents, leases and rent records, and market evidence for each district and property type.
Draft schedule. The schedule and supporting figures, issued to you in draft.
Discussion. A meeting on the draft, to correct facts and settle what is examined further. Comment on the facts is welcome; the figures remain ours.
Final report. Schedule and valuations issued in final form, in English or Greek, with the valuer available to explain them to your accountant, lawyer or board.

Instructing us

Tell us how many properties are involved, where they are, what you own them through and what the review is for. We confirm in writing what the work covers, what you receive and what it costs before anything begins. You speak to the valuer who signs the reports.

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