People thinking of buying or selling a house used to have to rely on slippery estate agents to get an idea of what the property was worth. Now, in some countries, websites like Zillow (in America) and Zoopla (in Britain) offer instant online valuations, using algorithms to combine data from sales of nearby properties with current market trends. Like houses, cargo ships often change hands or get refinanced, and buyers, sellers and bankers have in the past had to depend on the opinions of shipbrokers as to their value.
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