A snapshot into the world of REINZ data & insights services

REINZ is constantly evolving the data products and services that we offer. The following is a quick insight into the recent developments and enhancements we’ve made for our members.

Migration to DataMart

REINZ has recently migrated to a new data platform called DataMart. This is a significant step forward for REINZ, as it continues on its transformation journey. DataMart is the engine which manages all the property data that is critical to our industry. This migration has been months in planning and delivery and is a significant achievement for REINZ and the industry.

As with any large system migration, there have been a few teething issues, so thank you for your patience whilst we iron these out. The new platform is a foundation for the future and uses robotics to match data. The data matching rates compared to our old system have significantly improved, ensuring that property data has a single source of truth. There is an ongoing programme of data quality improvements over the coming months which will help members find more up-to-date and accurate data.

RentalSmarts

Over the last few months, the REINZ Digital & Innovation team has worked to re-build the technology and calculation of rental data to better reflect revised boundary changes following the last census. This is great news for property management members as this will now allow more accurate comparisons of data within our RentalSmarts platform.

We are confident that the new methodology and underlying technology is a great step forward for our rental data & insights services.

The Automated Valuation Model (AVM)

The new REINZ Automated Valuation Model (AVM) launched in April and is REINZ’s most technologically advanced product yet. The AVM uses advanced modelling and deep machine learning techniques to produce accurate estimates and up-to-date sales price predictions for residential properties across New Zealand at the click of a button.

The REINZ AVM is a computer-generated valuation of a property’s estimated current market value. REINZ calculates an AVM for more than 92% of all New Zealand properties. Broken down by category coverage this increases to approximately 99% for houses, units and apartments, with residential sections and lifestyle blocks receiving approximately 98% coverage.

The new REINZ AVM will cover more properties in the market and provide more accurate estimates that are closer to actual sales prices, within a narrower range and with less time lag to detect changing trends. It will achieve this by using more data point inputs, more sophisticated models and algorithms and more up-to-date data. It will also use machine learning to continuously improve.

Predicting property values is an extremely complex process, as such the REINZ AVM uses REINZ proprietary deep machine learning to incorporate over 200 individual datapoints to derive a sophisticated prediction. Some of these datapoints include land area; site coverage; number of bedrooms; number of bathrooms; building condition; floor area; latest CV and many more variables.

Find it now under the PropertySmarts ‘Property Details page’ and the Statistics Platform property ‘view’.

DataHub

The REINZ DataHub brings together information around REINZ’s data & insights capabilities, resulting in a central hub for property data analytics. The new DataHub makes property data more accessible and understandable for those who want to get a good handle on the New Zealand property market and makes it easier for customers to find out information about what data is available in order to help them understand the market.

This is just the first iteration of what we eventually anticipate will be a one-stop shop for property data in New Zealand. Over the past few years, we’ve invested heavily in our statistics platform [which powers the DataHub], and this investment will enable us to ‘slice and dice’ the data and view it all in one place over time.

The services are already used and trusted by industry-leading economists and business professionals, both domestically and internationally.

REINZ’s team of data consultants are available to assist users for any specific requirements they may have and will work with individuals to find customised solutions to fit their business needs. Visit www.reinz.co.nz/datahub

Watch out for ongoing updates on data products & services in the coming months.

Ian Smith

Senior Data & Platform Manager, REINZ