Veros Real Estate Solutions recently released a study of its automated valuation model (AVM)— VeroVALUE AVM—that said there was no evidence of any racial bias. "This validation provides an important quality control check for lenders seeking tools to identify potential racial bias in home valuations," the company claims.

"The study utilized neighborhood racial compositions to determine if a correlation existed between the percentage of Black, Hispanic, Asian and White populations and the number of properties in the area that were undervalued or overvalued by more than 15%," it added.

"With appraisals coming under increasing scrutiny due to allegations of racial bias, AVMs have a unique advantage, as they are blind to the demographic characteristics of the parties involved in real estate transactions, including the surrounding properties and neighborhoods that are used in the determination of the AVM results," the report itself explained. "AVMs can estimate the value of a home without any human assessment in an objective and cost and time-effective manner. Further, many AVMs utilize numerous valuation methodologies that are independently analyzed and aggregated to produce a final estimate of value, which helps ensure more accurate results. Therefore, AVMs may be used as an objective and more efficient tool for home valuations in certain situations."