Fairness judgments and counterfactual thinking: pricing goods versus services

Pricing of property valuation services in Lagos Nigeria

Purpose

The pricing of professional service has been identified as one of the factors influencing the quality of service and willingness of clients to pay. However, the issue of service pricing is hardly seen as an object of discourse in real estate literature, especially among valuation studies, as it is obtainable in other fields. In Nigeria, it has become the practice for some sets of clients, especially financial institutions, to fix valuers’ remuneration based on the fact that these clients have market advantage. This practice and some other issues around pricing of valuers’ services have been going on for some years with little or no research insights from academics. The purpose of this paper is to examine the pricing system of valuation services within the Lagos property market with the aim of providing information to better valuation practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This study assumes an interpretive paradigm and adopts a qualitative research approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 registered valuers practising within the Lagos property market. Snowballing sampling technique was employed in selecting the registered valuers who were active in the practice of valuation in the study area. Data collected were analysed using thematic analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 software.

Findings

This study finds that the pricing system for valuation services in the study area can be broadly categorised under “negotiation” and “fixed rate” systems while the use of the “professional scale of charges” is more or less non-existent. The study also reveals various forms by which these systems are practised, and issues associated with them as well as the effects they have on valuation practice. The study further reveals the factors responsible for the continuous striving of the present pricing system which includes valuers’ inability to enforce the professional scale, competition in the market, buyers’ market syndrome, the game of numbers and the banks’ strategy to protect their customers. The authors also found that the low pricing of valuation service poses challenges to valuation practice and encourages unprofessional conducts that affect the quality of valuation output. The study also provides, albeit limited, an evidence of the relationship between valuation fee and quality of valuation.

Research limitations/implications

This study is limited to Lagos property market and only the practising valuers. Insights from other major cities and stakeholders in service pricing like clients and regulatory authority may produce more insightful results.

Originality/value

This study provides important insights into valuers’ experience in the area of service pricing and how this affects the delivery of professional services. It also serves as the research blueprint in giving research attention to the service pricing in property valuation practice.