AIB have just over 50 Residential Mortgage Valuers in the Dublin region on their recommended list.
I assume as these are the professionals they have a methodology that can more accurately calculate the value of a property than the average house hunter.
I would question the whole concept of property "value" and would note the following:
1) There is no such thing as a definitive value for a property. It is worth what you are willing to pay for it. All the valuer has to go on is previous prices paid, the current trajectory of the market (rising or falling), and any other known factors that might be expected to affect the trajectory. Those might include credit availability, balance of supply vs. demand, population demographics, changing tax incentives and general government interference, and so on.
2) AIB don't care if the valuers get the value of the house right. What they care about is that the house is not worth less (now or in the foreseeable future) than what they are lending you, so that in the case of default they can get their money back. Anything you pay for the house above the mortgaged amount is
your potential loss.
3) If the valuers are estate agents they have a vested interest in assuming the market always rises, even though everyone knows that's impossible. This is not an accusation of a conspiracy, just a simple observation of fact. They downplayed all the relevant factors prior to the last crash. There is no reason to suppose anything has changed.
4) The only difference between now and when the banks crashed the economy by lending as much as borrowers wanted into an "infinitely rising market" is the central bank lending limits. These are designed to protect the bank from itself, by making sure you are able to pay your mortgage even if the housing market tanks. Obviously if the whole economy tanks like last time and you lose you job, everyone's in trouble regardless. But you are the person on the hook in the first instance.
5) Therefore, a house is "worth" whatever you can borrow plus whatever you are prepared to contribute from your own assets. The proof of this is that entry-level houses for first time buyers have risen in "value" to the limit of what the labour market can bear within the lending criteria, and have now leveled off. Houses for second time buyers are more variable, though they are pushing the limits in certain price ranges too given the 20% deposit requirement.
6) The only person looking out for
you is
you.