The primary task of the official expert committees for property values is to contribute to the transparency of the property market by determining property values and through market observations and analyses. The legal basis for the performance of these tasks is the Building Code. The expert committees essentially fulfill the following tasks:
- Market observation by keeping a collection of purchase prices and deriving property market data
- market reconnaissance by deriving standard land values (general, area-wide market transparency)
- Market reconnaissance through the preparation of market value appraisals (individual, selective market transparency)
On the basis of the German Building Code, the offices of the expert committees for land values receive all contracts under which ownership of a property is to be transferred for a fee. The land purchase contracts are transmitted by the notaries who notarize them. The contents of these contracts are recorded and stored in databases (purchase price collections) in compliance with data protection regulations. This data, which is based on purchase prices actually paid, is evaluated by the expert committees to derive prices, sales and other important data on the real estate market. Personal data is not stored and therefore cannot be analyzed.
All property market data derived by the expert committees from the purchase price collection is made generally available on the Internet. Property market data is equally helpful if you are involved in professional real estate valuation as well as for your private concerns if you need a value orientation for a property. Overall, this makes a significant contribution to transparency on the real estate market with official quality.
If certain requirements are met, an expert committee or its office will also provide information from the purchase price collection.
The property market data and standard land values are available on the Lower Saxony real estate market free of charge. Market value appraisals can be requested from the relevant expert committee for a fee.
Note on the expert committees for property values:
The expert committees are responsible for certain regions in Lower Saxony as defined by the state; the Higher Expert Committee is responsible for the entire state. The committees are made up of chairmen and honorary members. The presiding members are members of the surveying and cadastral administration, while honorary members are experts from the broad field of the real estate industry, e.g. from the fields of architecture, civil engineering, agriculture, finance or estate agency.
An expert committee is always autonomous and independent. To support the completion of its tasks, each expert committee has an office, which is also located at the surveying and cadastral administration of the respective regional directorate of the Lower Saxony State Office for Geoinformation and Land Surveying (LGLN).