***This article was originally written in 2021, but has been updated for 2023 to reflect new solution providers***
Whether you’re a property investor or a real-estate agent, property value estimates are likely a key part of your day-to-day business as a real-estate professional. As such, you may already use an Automated Valuation Model to estimate property values. However, with various options at your fingertips you want to make sure you understand how an AVM can help you and who the best providers are.
What exactly is an Automated Valuation Model in relation to real estate? A real estate Automated Valuation Model (AVM) refers to a solution that utilizes machine learning analyzes a range of data points to provide a value estimate for a specific property.
The data analyzed typically includes property characteristics, comparable sale prices, property market trends, the age of the property and more. In this post, we contrast and compare the most well-known AVM providers on the market.
The Best AVM in Real Estate
Below, we explore a selection of the top AVM real estate providers. Let’s take a look.
ATTOM’s AVM
ATTOM’s high-powered AVM is fueled by ATTOM’s nationwide residential property and sales database. ATTOM’s AVM offers property valuations on over 84 million homes in every U.S. state – covering 98% of the American population.
ATTOM estimates AVM values in several ways, including market metrics derived from clusters of similar properties on the market, statistical models, and value blending approaches. Comparing ATTOM’s property estimates to sale prices, their median absolute error is 6%.
Zillow’s Zestimate
Many people are familiar with Zillow’s Zestimate, thousands of real estate agents and prospective buyers and sellers use the platform every year to calculate value estimates on properties across the U.S. Founded in 2006, Zestimate was the first AVM available to the general public.
Zestimate’s nationwide median error rate for on-market properties. is 1.9%. In comparison, the median error rate for off-market homes is 6.9%. However, Investopedia reports that Zillow’s estimates typically rely on user-submitted data, meaning their value estimates are only as accurate as the data they’re provided with. Mistakes or omissions on the part of users can undermine their accuracy.
CoreLogic Total Home Valuex
CoreLogic’s Total Home Valuex combines cloud technology with AI and machine-learning powered analytics to accurately determine property values based on several data points. Most of the information comes from public record data collected from county clerks, assessors, treasurers, registers and recorders of deeds, and other government officials.
Realtor.com’s AVM
Realtor.com offers a public-facing solution to help people estimate property valuations for homes. Realtor.com’s AVM combines a range of data from other market-leading AVM providers, including data on pricing trends, property characteristics, and local market information. This allows people to compare a range of price estimates for a particular property, from low to high, to get a well-informed picture of the market and the property they are interested in.
The Top Real Estate AVM Providers
There are a wide variety of Real Estate AVM providers to choose from. The right one for you will depend on whether you’re in the real-estate profession or simply curious about a property currently on the market.
Curious to learn more about ATTOM’s AVM? Download our comprehensive white paper.
