Not even an experienced estate agent can value a UK property with total accuracy, and it isn’t an exact science — it’s educated guesswork.
Estate agents buy and sell homes every week, so they’re often best placed to estimate local property values. But this doesn’t mean you stop doing the guesswork yourself. Search the Internet for how much your house is worth, and you’ll find plenty of resources.
Knowing the potential value of your home is essential. After all, if you don’t know how much your property will fetch on the open market, how can you decide whether listing it for sale is the best course of action?
Five ways to value my home
1. Research trends in the area
Please take a look at our property valuation tool, which uses recent sold house prices data from the Land Registry and get a quick assessment as to your home’s worth. Next, look for details of houses similar to yours in design. Then ask yourself, is there a trend in your neighbourhood? Finally, does your home possess advantages others in the area don’t?
Once you have the sale price data you need, work out an average range.
2. Look for market forecasts
Property experts continually monitor the housing market for signs of upturns and downturns. Using current and historical data, these experts can make pretty accurate predictions about where house prices are headed. The Financial Times, Hometrack and the Land Registry are great places to start your forecast research.
3. Assess local factors
The housing market is volatile and reactive. And it can differ from street to street in certain regions. In many cases, external issues beyond your control are responsible for these differences.
A new school, for example, could dramatically push up house prices in the catchment area. The addition of a new train station or a new road could also positively affect house prices.
Is anything happening that could affect property values in your location? For example, suppose you can demonstrate to buyers that your local area will benefit from new amenities and infrastructure in the future. In that case, you might be able to extract a premium for your property.
The most common issues that affect UK house prices include:
- Crime levels
- Environmental problems such as flood risk
- Transport links
- Local schools
- Local amenities
- Localised subsidence issues
- The neighbours
4. Get a free valuation on the Internet
Several online resources offer free, no-obligation house valuations. And in many cases, all you need to do is enter your postcode and the number of bedrooms your home has. Of course, this isn’t very accurate, but it’s a good way of starting the valuation process.
5. Ask an estate agent
Estate agents want your business. If they think you’re serious about selling your home, they’ll give up their time to value it. And their experience and knowledge are irreplaceable in this regard.
Only by using all of these five steps together can you hope to value your home accurately. And once you know what your home is capable of achieving, you can start to formulate a personalised house selling strategy.
