Fine art and property share many characteristics which make an appraiser’s job much harder. Looking at the problems facing appraisers of fine art may be instructive to property appraisers: you may realize who has the easier job.
First, both fine art and property are similar in many ways: they are differentiated in many ways, trading them incurs high transaction costs (fee paid by seller of about 10- 15 percent plus another fee paid by the buyer of about 10- 25 percent), and the value of an item is widely debated and highly personal (i.e. there are wide variations amongst potential buyers).
There was general agreement that fine art is not an investment commodity. But, after listening to a panel discussion at the recent RICS conference in Toronto, I think that property appraisal is much easier. Continue reading