Geospatial technologies for real estate and land valuation in Cyprus

Abstract

This dissertation provides a review of how remote sensing and GIS as the two basic geospatial tools are used in the real estate and land valuation sectors. The four main objectives of this study are the following: (1) A questionnaire was used to track the existing situation in the use of remote sensing for real estate and land valuators professionals; (2) investigate how GIS as a geospatial tool can assist land valuations method in Cyprus; (3) How satellite imagery can assist the development appraisal method? (4) How land-use and land cover changes from satellite imagery can assist the real estate sector? It has been found that by using a GIS land valuation can be more effectively applied by integrating several input parameters. It has been found that using a series of Landsat (5, 7, and 8) images acquired from 2000 to 2017 for the Paphos District area, that the % of development can be used as a basis for real estate companies to invest and examine the trend of development. Building permits statistics per year for the Paphos area was used to support the results obtained from the land cover changes from satellites. Finally, satellite remote sensing is used to identify suitable places for investment. It has been found that there is big gap in Cyprus of using systematically those techniques for real estate and land valuation. The importance of using such geospatial tools is demonstrated through different examples.