Residential real estate valuation framework based on life cycle cost by building information modeling

Real estate markets are ideal investment options that lead to the construction industry’s and the economy’s growth. Therefore, having appropriate investment and valuation strategies is a critical success factor. Most established valuation methods emphasize market value and economic factors and are ignorant about buildings’ technical and structural attributes. Therefore, due to the process ambiguity and lack of information access, the estimated price usually differs from the real property value. In this research, a revised valuation framework is proposed based on the life cycle cost (LCC) of residential properties, focusing on the operation phase. LCC consists of all costs related to an asset during different phases of its lifecycle, and it helps determine the net present value of the property. For systematically storing and analyzing technical and financial information, building information modeling (BIM) was proposed. Despite being widely used in the design and construction phases, its application and competitive advantage to real estate developers and managers during the operation phase are not transparent. This research benefitted from the 5D BIM model with a level of development (LOD) of 300 to increase the transparency and validity of valuation. An 18.25% difference between the calculated price of two case studies in Tehran and their inflated market prices proved this assertion.