Why lender figures come in low
Understand the mechanism before you dispute the number. Many lender valuations involve no inspection at all — they are modelled from recorded sales, so renovations, condition, aspect and outlook are simply invisible to them.
Add to that very recent sales the valuer could not see, conservative instructions for unusual property, policy caution around small units, serviced apartments, high-density towers and rural-residential holdings, and the routine discounting of work done without council approval. None of these are errors of judgement — they are structural, and each is addressable with evidence.
Commercial finance is a different analysis
For commercial property, the lender is assessing an income stream, not a building. Net market income, lease covenant strength, WALE, outgoings recovery and market capitalisation rates drive both the value and the credit decision.
That is why two physically identical warehouses with different tenants are not worth the same, and why a valuation that shows the analysed investment sales behind its capitalisation rate is far more useful to a credit team than one that simply states a rate.
How a review actually gets won
Not with indignation. With a short, factual evidence pack: three to five genuinely comparable recent sales with one line each on why they compare; council approvals, plans and invoices for improvements with before-and-after photographs; and correction of any factual errors in the lender's assessment — wrong land area, missed second dwelling, missed subdivision potential.
Submit it through your broker rather than a branch, because brokers know which team to route it to. Where the gap is material and remains after a review, moving the application to a lender with a more suitable policy is often faster than continuing to fight the first valuation.