Process of setting a value on real or personal property, usually for the purpose of taxation.
It is carried out either by central government agencies or by local officials. Property may be assessed on the basis of its annual rental value, as in Britain, or its capital value, as in the U.S. Various methods are used to determine capital value, including analysis of market data to estimate the property's current market price, estimation of the cost of reproducing the property minus accrued depreciation , and capitalization of the property's earnings.