The electronic property valuation sector is a small but growing niche aimed at reducing the need for a physical inspection by housing valuers. Frank Connon, general manager Valuation Management Services at Sandstone Technologies, a developer and integrator of specialised services and solutions for the banking and financial services markets, said that three quarters of valuations requested by Australian lenders are full valuation, as they provide the greatest level of risk protection for property loans. "As mortgage lenders become increasingly concerned about potential loan defaults we see the importance of full valuations continuing or even growing. "The only drawbacks for full valuations have in the past been the time required to get these sourced to enable the loan application to be approved, and the cost involved due to the amount of time needed for valuers to travel to the property and prepare their report. "Both of these drawbacks are diminished with VMS, which has proven to reduce turnaround times by over 65 per cent and cost by over 50 per cent." Sandstone's VMS technology operates as a hub between lenders and valuation firms, allowing the lending community to order and efficiently manage the fulfillment of valuation requests electronically. Each lender joining the service brings with them their own selected panel of valuers, and the system simply facilitates the ordering, processing delivery, and invoicing of valuation requests between the lender's staff and their designated valuers. Graham Mirabito, chief executive at RP Data said, "I don't think so", when asked if full valuations can be replaced by electronic means. "There will always be a role for the physical valuation, but if there is enough visual material available then an electronic desktop will work, and if it's homogenous enough and if there is sufficient data with enough confidence scores then electronic valuation using the AVM will work." Mirabito says that overseas AVM's are being used several times on one property, including by a bank to judge collateral and threshold limits, mortgage brokers to qualify a client, and used by the vendor and purchaser themselves, but that this still doesn't discount the need for a full valuation.