What does AI ask in a free home valuation?

A free home valuation gives you a quick, no-obligation price estimate based on your own details and public data. You get an overview of roughly what your home is worth right now, at no cost to you. The figure is a benchmark, not a final selling price. You can use it as a starting point if you want to learn more about your home’s value.

A free online home valuation works by you entering details of the type of home, its size and the postcode yourself. Those details are compared with data on homes that have actually sold in the area, and from that you get a realistic price range rather than a single figure. You do not need to want to sell or commit to anything to get the estimate. A benchmark is useful whether you are thinking of selling, want to borrow money or are looking at your home equity (friværdi).

What information will you be asked for?

The form is short, and you can get through it in under two minutes. Before you start, it helps to know what you will be asked, so you are not hunting for papers you do not need.

1. The first step is always the address. You choose your address from a list to move on to the valuation.

2. Step 2 asks for your contact details and the type of home. The contact details are first name, surname, email and phone number, and the phone number can have the country codes +45, +46, +47 and +49.

The fixed options for type of home are as follows:

• Detached house

• Terraced house/townhouse

• Owner-occupied flat

• Cooperative housing (andelsbolig)

• Summer house/holiday home

• Plot

• Other property

Altogether, the form asks about the type of home, postcode, size and the purpose of the valuation. It takes under 2 minutes to fill in, and there is no obligation.

Finally, you agree that up to three local estate agents may contact you about a free home valuation. Your details are shared only with the matched agents and are not sold on to third parties.

Public data sources behind the valuation: BBR, the land register and geodata

Vurderingsstyrelsen (the Danish Property Assessment Agency) works from data covering the country’s 2,4 million properties, collected from public registers such as Tinglysningen (the land register), Klimadatastyrelsen (the Danish Agency for Climate Data), Plandata.dk and BBR. An AI-based valuation draws on the same data when it estimates your home’s value.

• BBR (Bygnings- og Boligregistret, the Danish building and dwelling register) holds information on the year of construction, residential and building floor area, number of rooms, toilet and bathroom facilities, kitchen facilities, roofing material, type of heating, water supply and any conversions and extensions.

• Tinglysningen (tinglysning.dk) is the public register of rights over a property. Among other things, it supplies information on actual property prices, which the valuation takes as its starting point.

• Geodata from Klimadatastyrelsen and Danmarks Højdemodel (the Danish elevation model) is used to determine distances to major roads, high-voltage lines, wind turbines, the sea and lakes.

• Plandata.dk provides information on municipal plans, local plans and rural zone permits that can affect the value.

Together, the registers paint a picture of the home that goes beyond the few fields you fill in yourself. That is why the estimate can come close to reality, even though you have only entered the address, type of home and size.

How accurate is the estimate, and what can it be used for?

How accurate an estimate is depends entirely on the type of valuation you choose. Some methods give you a quick figure in a minute, others require a visit, and the difference in accuracy is significant.

The public property assessment from Vurderingsstyrelsen is a different thing altogether. According to Realkreditrådet (the Danish mortgage banks’ federation), it deviates from the real market value by ±18-22 % on average, and it is mainly a basis for taxation rather than an estimate of what your home could sell for.

The difference between the methods lies mainly in how the data is handled. An algorithm also includes atypical sales, forced sales and family sales at a reduced price, which can skew the estimate in a direction that does not match your home. An estate agent sorts through the data and assesses the home’s actual condition, sale prices on the street over the last 6-12 months, the energy label and current demand.

A free home valuation works well as a quick, no-obligation benchmark if you want a feel for the price level. But if the figure is to feed into decisions about borrowing, selling or your home equity, you should back it up with a specific valuation from an estate agent or your bank.

What a free home valuation is not

It is easy to mix things up, because the Danish word “vurdering” (valuation or assessment) covers several different things. Here are the three mix-ups that most often cause confusion.

• A free online home valuation is an estimate and a benchmark, not a binding surveyor’s valuation. It does not guarantee a final selling price.

• The bank’s credit assessment is something else. When you take out a new home loan, remortgage or release equity, the bank and the mortgage lender carry out their own valuation, typically commissioned for 2.000-5.000 kr.

• The public property assessment is something else again. It is used as the basis for property value tax and land tax, not as a measure of market value.

The difference between a home valuation and a property assessment is precisely that the two figures each answer a different question. The public assessment tells you something about how much tax you have to pay, while the market value is the amount a buyer will realistically pay in the current market. It is the market value that matters when you want to borrow money or work out your home equity.

Two homes with the same public assessment can therefore sell for very different prices. A home with a public assessment of 2.000.000 kr. might, for example, end up selling for 1.800.000 kr. or 2.200.000 kr., depending on the state of the market. Condition, location and demand all pull in different directions, and a free valuation cannot capture every individual factor. That is also why you can safely ask for a home valuation without selling. You get a benchmark, and you are not committing to anything. Use the figure as a starting point if you later want an estate agent or your bank to take a closer look at your home.

How to get from an online answer to a useful benchmark

A common approach is to start simple and then go into more depth as you need a more accurate figure.

1. Start with a quick house price calculator (AVM, an automated valuation model). It takes about 1 minute, and the accuracy is ±20-30 %.

2. Get an online home valuation from a local estate agent. This typically takes 1-5 minutes.

3. Finish with a free estate agent valuation, where up to three local agents contact you within 24 hours with an estimate accurate to within ±5-7 %.

The free estate agent valuation comes with no obligation. The agent pays for their time through the chance of working with you on a sale later, and that is never a requirement or a condition for getting the valuation. Saying yes commits you to nothing.

For the valuation visit itself, the estate agent typically stays for half an hour to an hour. They go through the home, ask about its condition and any renovations, and show you comparable sales in the area. Some give you the figure there and then, while others get back to you in writing a few days later. Either way, you are left with a benchmark you can use to decide on your next step.

Brikk offers a free valuation that you can use as a first benchmark. This is exactly where you can start if you want a quick, no-obligation insight into your home’s value.

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