ENGREECE · DATA LITERACY
Asking, transaction and objective value: what each number measures
One address can carry four different numbers without any of them being inherently “wrong”. The error begins when they are treated as measurements of the same thing.
1. The asking price
An asking price is the seller’s public or private requirement at a point in time. It records expectation and competitive positioning, not an agreed transaction. It may include negotiation room, urgency, incomplete information or a deliberate pricing strategy.
Listings help define the active competitive set, exposure time and price reductions. They should not be silently mixed with closed transactions, and their average should not be labelled the market value of an area.
2. The recorded transfer value
Greece’s Registry of Real Estate Transfer Values publishes information from transfers, and the Ministry makes the published fields available in annual files. This is valuable evidence, but each row needs interpretation before it becomes a comparable.
A record may concern a fractional share, bare ownership or usufruct rather than full ownership of an entire property. The declared value does not automatically reveal condition, special terms, related parties or open-market exposure. It is transaction evidence, not infallible ground truth for every model.
3. The objective value
The objective-value system is an administrative and tax framework. It uses zones, coefficients and property attributes to calculate a taxable value. The official mapping service helps identify the applicable zone and related inputs.
Objective value is not automatically the price a property would achieve in an open market on the valuation date. It is an important tax and legal input and a useful cross-check, but it does not replace market evidence.
4. Estimated market value
Market value is a conclusion for a specified basis and valuation date. It may be supported by market, income or cost approaches depending on the property and purpose. It is not simply another field discovered in a database.
An AVM produces an indication, range or probability statement according to its data and calibration. A certified appraisal also involves professional judgment and an appropriate scope of work. KTIMIO must state which one it is presenting.
How the four work together
Keep the four classes separate in the data model: ASKING, TRANSACTION_OR_DECLARED, OBJECTIVE_OR_TAX and MODELLED_OR_APPRAISED. Apply right, share, date, identity and source-quality filters before comparing them.
Bank of Greece indices help place evidence in its time and market regime, but they cannot make a weak record a good comparable. Value comes from supported synthesis, not from selecting the most convenient number.
Asking, transfer and objective value are different variables—not three versions of one truth.
Checklist before comparing two numbers
Confirm what each amount covers, on what date, for which right and ownership share, which area and what property condition. Record whether the source is a seller claim, public record, official administrative calculation or valuation opinion.
If one of these is missing, lower the evidence weight or abstain. Making the gap visible is part of the analysis, not a footnote.
Sources and further reading
Curated primary standards, official guidance and foundational research. Source register reviewed 31 August 2026.
- RICS — RICS Valuation — Global Standards (Red Book) (2025)Global standards covering bases of value, approaches, methods, models and reporting requirements.
- RICS — Comparable evidence in real estate valuation (2023)Selection, verification, analysis and adjustment of comparable evidence.
- Υπουργείο Εθνικής Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών — Βελτίωση παρουσίασης στοιχείων του Μητρώου Αξιών Μεταβιβάσεων Ακινήτων (Μ.Α.Μ.Α.) (2025)Official announcement on annual bulk files for published MAMA fields and their periodic update.
- gov.gr — Αντικειμενικός προσδιορισμός αξιών ακινήτων σε χάρτη (ongoing)Official map service for objective-value zones and inputs; it is not a market-value opinion.
- ΑΑΔΕ — Φύλλα υπολογισμού αξίας ακινήτων (ongoing)Official objective-value system. Objective value is not the same as market value.
- Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος — Δείκτες τιμών οικιστικών και επαγγελματικών ακινήτων (ongoing)Official indices and methodology for temporal and geographic monitoring of the Greek market.