The US Real Estate Appraisal Market (by Number of Active Appraisers, Licensed and Certified Appraisers, Home Sales per Active Appraiser, Employment Status, Time in Profession, Primary Occupation, & Organization): Insights and Forecast (2023-2028)

Market Insight

The process of determining the worth of a property is known as real estate appraisal. It is often conducted by appraisers, who are licensed or trained professionals. They evaluate the worth of a property using a number of methodologies, including analyzing location, size, condition, and previous sales of similar properties. The US real estate appraisal market is a critical component of the US real estate business, supplying critical information to a diverse variety of stakeholders such as buyers, sellers, lenders, investors, and government organizations. The market is dominated by independent appraisal firms and individual appraisers who are licensed and regulated at the state level.

The real estate evaluation market has seen significant changes in recent years, as technology has become increasingly important in the appraisal process. Today, many appraisers obtain and assess property information using digital techniques such as aerial imagery, 3D modelling, and data analytics, allowing them to complete values more quickly and precisely. The US real estate appraisal market is expected to be worth US$9.27 billion in 2023, witnessing growth at a CAGR of 4.24%, over the projected period.

Top Impacting Factors

Growth Drivers

• Technology Penetration in the Appraisal Industry
• Growth In Housing Market
• Growing Addressable Mortgage Origination
• Improvement in Communication between Parties

Challenges

• Less Appealing Mortgage Appraisal Business
• Availability of Alternative Processes

Trends

• Growing Senior Housing Momentum
• Fragmented Mortgage Lenders Market
• Improvement in Logistical Management of Appraisers
• Changes to Licensing Requirements

Driver, Challenge and Trend Analysis

Driver: Technology Penetration in the Appraisal Industry

The Digital AMC platform has the ability to leverage technology to automate processes and manage the network of field agents to improve quality. The technology (Solidifi) platform uses automated quality scoring technology, in addition to manual reviews, to reduce the number of touchpoints relative to traditional AMCs. Moreover, Solidifi has a unique appraiser scoring system which ranks appraisers on performance and quality metrics. This scoring becomes important to provide unbiased feedback to appraisers and to provide a transparent performance-based system for assigning future appraisal assignments. Better performance is rewarded with more work. Thus, such platform motivates the appraisers to deliver high standard and authenticated appraisals.

Challenge: Restricted Demand for Appraisers Based on the Region

Appraisers works in a very defined location and geography mainly due to types of logistics involved in the essential part of appraisal report generation process (usually due to difference in state licensing requirements and requires a good level of knowledge with respect to the regional dynamics of a specific real estate market). Thus, the demand for appraisal is very regional by nature. Now, the part of the US which is having shortage of appraisers effects significantly on the appraiser’s fees compared to part where there is oversupply. Mostly, appraisals cost US$400-600 and take about three-seven days for inspection of the house, though this may vary with different location and landscape. Also, appraiser supply can often be an issue in rural markets and in very active real estate markets. In a nutshell, demand of appraiser is directly proportional to the region.

Trend: Improvement in Logistical Management of Appraisers

Logistical management of appraisers is mainly handled by AMCs in the appraisal process, but certainly some are better than others and have invested heavily in solutions that improve the order management, appraisal scheduling, and route efficiency solutions. For example, Solidifi (The US Real Matters brand) has invested significantly to build out its capabilities in network management. Specifically, the company is able to monitor the efficiency of appraisers in real time (turnaround time and defect rates) and routes more work to highly rated appraisers depending on their current capacity. Besides Solidifi, LRES in this area (automatic assignment technology that identifies the best appraiser for a certain job) and ServiceLink’s Exos business (has a comprehensive scheduling solution that connects appraisers with other parties involved in scheduling, including the homeowner). Thus, the improvement in logistical management of appraisers overall improve the appraisal process which in turn positively affect the industry.

The COVID-19 Analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the US real estate appraisal market. Appraisers have had to adapt to new safety protocols, including virtual inspections, which have led to delays in the appraisal process in the initial stags of pandemic. Despite the short-term challenges posed by the pandemic, the post COVID outlook for the US real estate appraisal market looks positive. One of the most significant changes that the post-COVID real estate appraisal market is likely to see is an increased focus on technology in the US. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technology in the appraisal industry, with many companies investing in virtual and remote appraisal tools. These technologies have proven to be extremely valuable in the current environment, allowing appraisers to conduct evaluations without having to physically visit properties. As the pandemic continues to recede, it is likely that these technologies will become even more widely adopted and will continue to play a major role in the appraisal industry.

Analysis of Key Players

The US real estate appraisal market is is very fragmented. The market is likely to be led by large national firms, but there are also many smaller regional and local firms, as well as independent appraisers, that compete within specific markets or regions. Companies and appraisers need to have a strong reputation for accurate and reliable valuations, as well as a good understanding of the local real estate market and the ability to adapt to changing market conditions. Additionally, companies that can offer additional services, such as technology solutions or data and analytics, may have an advantage over competitors who only offer traditional appraisal services. The key players in the US real estate appraisal market are     Wells Fargo & Company, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Real Matters, Inc., The Accurate Group, Voxtur Analytics Corp, BGC Partners, Inc., CoreLogic, Inc., Clear Capital, ServiceLink, CBRE Group, LRES Corporation, and First Look Appraisals.