Real estate appraisal,
property valuation or
land valuation is the process of developing an opinion of value for
real property (usually
market value). Real estate transactions often require appraisals because they occur infrequently and every property is
unique (especially their location, a key factor in valuation), unlike corporate stocks, which are traded daily and are identical (thus a centralized
Walrasian auction like a
stock exchange is unrealistic). Appraisal reports form the basis for
mortgage loans, settling
estates and divorces, taxation, and so on. Sometimes an appraisal report is used to set the sale price of a property.