Property Valuations
That Get Within 5%
62% of our valuations land within 5% of the actual sale price. We tested this across 7,127 Melbourne properties. No guesswork. Just data.
62%
Within 5% Accuracy
More than half of all valuations land within 5% of the actual sale price
87%
Within 10% Accuracy
Nearly 9 in 10 valuations land within 10% of the actual sale price
3.7%
Typical Error
Half of all valuations are off by less than 3.7%
7,127
Properties Tested
Melbourne Outer East residential sales used to measure accuracy
What Does This Accuracy Mean in Practice?
If a property sells for $800,000, our valuation will typically fall between $760,000 and $840,000. That happens 62% of the time. And 87% of the time, we get within 10%.
| Accuracy | How Often | What That Looks Like |
|---|---|---|
| Within 5% | 62% | For a $800,000 home, our valuation falls between $760,000 and $840,000 |
| Within 10% | 87% | For a $800,000 home, our valuation falls between $720,000 and $880,000 |
| Within 15% | 95% | For a $800,000 home, our valuation falls between $680,000 and $920,000 |
We measured these numbers by hiding properties from our system, then checking how close it got to the actual sale price. Every property was tested this way. None of them got to see their own answer.
Why Most Online Valuations Miss the Mark
Most property valuation tools look at a handful of things: bedrooms, bathrooms, land size, and a few recent sales nearby. That gives you a rough suburb average, not a valuation of your property.
Our system looks at the full picture. Comparable sales at different distances. How many times the property has been listed. Whether similar properties in the same pocket are selling above or below asking. The property features that actually affect price, like a study, renovated kitchen, or outdoor entertaining area.
The result is a valuation that reflects what makes each property different, not just what suburb it sits in.
How This Helps You Buy or Sell
Buying: A 4-bedroom house in Croydon, Melbourne
The agent quotes $950,000. The comparable sales they show are all over $900,000. But the block is smaller than those comps, the property has had fewer listings over the years, and prices in that pocket vary a lot. Our valuation: $870,000.
That $80,000 gap gives the buyer real data to negotiate with. The agent is pricing on bedrooms and suburb. The valuation is pricing on the full picture.
Buying: A renovated 3-bedroom in Ringwood
Listed at $780,000. Basic valuation tools see 3 beds, 1 bath, 550 sqm and say $720,000 based on suburb averages. But this property has been renovated: updated kitchen, new bathroom, outdoor entertaining area. Our valuation: $765,000.
The listing price is reasonable. A buyer relying on basic tools might think they are overpaying by $60,000. Our valuation says the premium is only $15,000, explained by the renovation.
Selling: A 3-bedroom in Mooroolbark
The agent suggests listing at $720,000 based on two recent sales on the same street. But those properties had smaller land (450 sqm vs 620 sqm) and no garage. Our valuation: $785,000.
The seller uses this data to push for a higher listing price. The property sells at auction for $778,000. Without the valuation, they might have accepted a lower offer early.
How We Compare to Domain
We tested our valuations head-to-head against Domain across 7,037 Melbourne properties where both systems had an estimate. Same addresses. Same sale prices.
One important difference: every MicroVal estimate was made before the property sold. We record the date of each prediction. Domain's estimates were collected from their website on 16 January 2026, after almost every property in the comparison had already sold. Domain may or may not update their estimates after a sale is recorded. We cannot confirm either way.
| Metric | Microburbs | Domain |
|---|---|---|
| Within 5% of sale price | 60.1% | 49.3% |
| Median dollar error | $37,626 | $49,799 |
| Closer on individual properties | 60.6% | 39.4% |
Our valuations were closer to the actual sale price on 6 out of 10 properties. The median gap between our estimate and the sale price was $12,000 smaller than Domain per property. And our estimates were genuine predictions, made before the sale happened.
Domain does better on expensive properties above $1.2 million, where individual features like views and renovation quality matter more. In the $600,000 to $1 million range where most buyers and investors are looking, we were closer on 68-74% of properties.
How We Know These Numbers Are Real
We took 7,127 actual sales in Melbourne's Outer East. For each property, we hid the sale price and asked our system to estimate it using only the information available before the sale. Then we compared.
We do not cherry-pick. Every property gets tested. The numbers above (62% within 5%, 87% within 10%) are across all 7,127 properties, not a hand-selected subset.
When we added a new data source during development, our accuracy initially jumped to 90%. Our checks caught a problem within hours: the data contained the actual sale price for some properties, disguised under a different name. We removed it and reported the honest number.
We publish the real number, not the flattering one.
Get an Accurate Valuation for Any Property
See what your property is really worth. Not a suburb average. A valuation based on what actually affects the price.