BERE: Ensuring Immutability and Transparency with Blockchain in Real Estate Appraisal Industry

Abstract Real estate appraisal plays a pivotal role in various financial transactions and regulatory processes, necessitating the assurance of unalterable and transparent Real Estate Appraisal rePorts (REAPs). Authorized appraisal experts employ diverse methodologies to ascertain the market value of real estate properties, contributing to critical decisions in property transactions, loans, taxation, insurance, financial reporting, and lease calculations. The standardized format and jurisdiction-compliant methodologies used in official REAPs emphasize the need for their preservation in an unaltered state. Despite the importance of official REAPs, the potential for unauthorized alterations poses a significant challenge when stored in centralized databases. With its inherent tamper-proof nature, Blockchain (BC) technology emerges as an ideal solution to safeguard the integrity of the REAPs. This study proposes a Blockchain-Enhanced Real Estate appraisal management framework, BERE, to the immutability of ensure REAPs and enhance appraisal process transparency. The proposed BERE framework fosters trust among stakeholders in the real estate appraisal sector. By securely storing REAPs authored by on-field appraisal experts on the BC, the method prevents unauthorized modifications and ensures the confidentiality of private data. Simulations employ a variety of measures, such as BC size, transaction verification time, CPU usage, and message overhead on transaction generation, to assess system performance. The results indicate that the BERE framework successfully maintains the accuracy and reliability of REAPs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study showcasing a practical application of BC technology to demonstrate its ability to transform the appraisal process and inspire trust in the accuracy of REAPs.