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The valuation of property companies and fair value accounting for investment properties under IFRS are closely affiliated with each other. This is because property companies are commonly valued using net asset value as a valuation technique. The term net asset value represents the fair value of a property company's assets less its liabilities and therefore can easily be determined, as under IFRS investment property is often reported using a fair value approach. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of fair value estimates for many companies' main asset: investment properties. With this it contributes to the stream of real estate finance literature that investigates net asset value deviations from property companies' share prices and to the stream of accounting literature that investigates fair value accounting.

The association between the net asset values of European listed property companies and their market prices are investigated. Observed deviations are related to a wide set of variables using panel (unbalanced) OLS‐regressions.

It is found that net asset value usually departs from the market capitalization of European property companies. It is also found that those deviations are a result of insufficient reliability of fair value estimates of investment properties because of the limitations of appraisals, the diversity of applied approaches in appraising investment properties and the reliability problem for mark‐to‐model approaches usually applied in determining the fair value of investment properties.

This parameter has not been considered before in previous literature.

This paper aims to examine the connection between appraisals of investment properties and earnings properties in companies from two perspectives: what kinds of companies employ the most reputable appraisers and how appraisers produce estimations.

The research uses annual reports of European Union (EU) publicly traded real estate companies and examines the period 2007-2016.

The contribution of this study lies in establishing that some indicators and features of real estate companies affect the choice of appraiser and also in illustrating differences in the results of property valuations. In short, smaller companies with weaker performance are less willing to use external valuation, and external appraisers produce more conservative estimations for investment properties.

The research produces beneficial information for investors and other stakeholders interested in the real estate industry.

This is the first novel study to examine the link between appraisals of investment properties and earnings properties in companies in detail.

The paper aims to investigate the value-relevance of changes in fair values of investment property reported under International Accounting Standards (IAS) 40 and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 13.

Multivariate regression models are used to regress cumulative market-adjusted stock returns of real estate firms on changes in fair values, along with control variables and corporate governance variables, in order to examine the research question.

Using hand-collected data from the Australian Real Estate Industry (AREI), the authors find that changes in fair values of investment property are value-relevant for equity investors. The authors further find that using unobservable inputs in an active market (Level 3 inputs) does not diminish the information content of fair values. The authors document that properties valued exclusively by directors have a significantly reduced value-relevance, whereas property valuations made collectively by both directors and independent valuers have superior value-relevance, possibly owing to the combination of inside knowledge and externally imposed monitoring. Collectively, the findings suggest that in the real estate industry, where unobservable inputs are commonly used to determine fair values of properties, the fair values determined subjectively are perceived to be sufficiently informative and relevant.

The authors' findings have important implications for accounting standard-setters in considering whether an external valuation should be required and whether the extensive measurement-related fair value disclosure requirements are useful.

The study extends previous archival evidence and complements prior commentaries on experimental and analytical work in the Australian regulatory environment.