Abstract
This chapter considers the need for valuations and outlines the growth of the valuation profession across the world. Valuations are required for a number of purposes, including the buying and selling of property, development appraisal, monitoring the level of property performance, loan security, tax matters, company accounts and insurance reinstatement. The main requirement of the major investors is for performance measurement and valuations provide the data for measurement to be carried out. Although professional valuation associations in the US trace their beginnings to the late 1920s, the modern regulatory environment for real estate appraisers and valuations can be traced to the collapse of commercial property markets and the savings and loan industry beginning in the late 1980s. There are approximately 95,000 real estate appraisers in the US, which is about 10% fewer than in the mid-2000s. The Registered Valuers programme monitors all members undertaking valuations in accordance with the mandatory Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors valuation standards.