Residential Appraisal Types

A full appraisal includes interior and exterior inspection together with market research and reconciliation. It can directly observe condition, quality, layout, finished area, renovation status and other characteristics that may be uncertain in databases or old listing material.

A full inspection still does not certify structure, building code, environmental condition or title. It is a valuation assignment with a defined scope—not a home inspection, engineering report or legal opinion.

Under current CUSPAP 2026, mortgage-financing desktop/drive-by assignments are restricted to first-mortgage financing, require reliable interior/exterior information, and must use data meeting the applicable recency requirements. They are also for existing properties believed to be 100% complete—not new or partially constructed properties.

AIC’s mortgage-industry guidance additionally notes that the lender must accept the limited-scope report and associated liability framework. The existence of a desktop option does not create a borrower right to demand it.

Construction lenders release money as the project creates verified progress. A Progress Inspection Report gives the lender an objective status update and commonly records the approximate extent of completion, work observed and any relevant completion issues under the assignment.

The percentage-complete estimate is one input. The lender can still compare remaining facility, borrower equity, statutory/lender holdbacks, cost-to-complete and commitment conditions before deciding the actual draw. See Construction Mortgage Draws.

A Market Rent Report provides an appraiser-supported estimate for a specific identifiable property. For secondary suites, CUSPAP 2026 imposes specific requirements around the suite, zoning/authorization evidence and recent inspection or reliable listing data.

This report can be especially useful where a property is vacant or newly rented and the lender cannot rely on a history of rent deposits. In our mortgage files, market-rent opinions are commonly presented as a supportable range rather than a promise that one exact rent will be achieved. Depending on lender policy, the amount brought into qualification can be the lower end, a midpoint/concluded figure, or another permitted amount from the report. The report format and lender treatment are not universal. The appraisal does not dictate the lender’s rental-income percentage or offset method.

Vacant land requires different analysis because there may be no completed dwelling to compare. Access, services, zoning, permitted use, frontage, topography, environmental constraints and market depth can materially affect value.

A land appraisal can support construction or land financing, but a lender may advance only a fraction of accepted land value and require the borrower to create additional value before later draws.

A current property can be worth one amount as-is and another amount as-if complete under defined plans/specifications. Those are not contradictory values; they answer different questions.

Borrowers should check which value controls each lending test. An initial land/as-is draw can be constrained by current value even when the completed project has substantial projected equity.

CUSPAP requires mortgage-financing reports to identify the authorized client/user. If an appraisal is ordered before a lender has been identified, current CUSPAP allows only a draft report until the lender is known and the appraiser confirms that the assignment meets that lender’s terms of reference.

This is why a report cannot simply be treated as a portable commodity. A new lender can require a reliance letter, revised report or entirely new appraisal.

Mortgage lenders often maintain approved appraisers, approved appraisal-management channels or property-specific acceptance rules. A report from an otherwise qualified professional can still be unusable to the chosen lender if the lender did not authorize that appraiser/report for the transaction.

Borrowers should therefore avoid assuming that “I already have an appraisal” means “the lender already has acceptable collateral evidence.”