What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

New Zealand's economy has been described as a "housing market with bits tacked on". Buying and selling property is a national sport fueled by the rising value of homes across the country.

But the wider public has little understanding of how those property valuations are created—despite their being a key factor in most banks' decisions about how much they are willing to lend for a mortgage.

Automated valuation models (AVM)—systems enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) that crunch vast datasets to produce instant property values—have done little to improve transparency in the process.

These models started gaining traction in New Zealand in the early 2010s. The early versions used limited data sources like property sales records and council information. Today's more advanced models include high-quality geo-spatial data from sources such as Land Information New Zealand.

AI models have improved efficiency. But the proprietary algorithms behind those AVMs can make it difficult for homeowners and industry professionals to understand how specific values are calculated.

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