Zoopla

*Summertime*

Does anyone use this site?

My mortgage broker told me to have a look on their to see what house prices are saying. It states that mine (1 of 5 terraced) is worth about £10k more than any of the others even though the last sale price was the same.

Who puts these statistics on to the site and how accurate are they?

I don't want to get into the 'mine is better than my neighbours' scenario but we have had an extension and put in a new heating system etc, all in all spent £20k on it which I do know is more than the others houses but not sure how 'Zoopla' knows this?!

SGE1

Useful for a ballpark, but I wouldn't have too much faith in it.

Sometimes you can 'revise' their estimate by providing them with more info about the property - so e.g. you can say you've spent £20k on refurb, and the system takes that into account and revises its estimate (upwards, I would expect!). Otherwise, they just base their estimates on past sale prices I think.

Evilm

Its all done by guesswork really.

Its probably that you bought yours for the same price something like 6 months before the neighbours bought theirs. Therefore yours has gained more than theirs has. (assuming property prices in your area went up since you bought). Zoopla will just be using the House Price Index for your area to calculate the percentage change since you bought it and assign a value on that.

It doesn't take account of things like buying for a low price due to the property being an estate sell or the people who bought No2 negotiated more than the people who bought No4. It assumes the price difference at purchase is purely to do with the real "value" of the house. So if No2 got a price of £20k lower than No4 then their house would show up as being of less value now.

poppy10_2

Zoopla is a bit of a joke to be honest, their 'estimates' are usually wildly inaccurate. Look at rightmove to see what houses in your area are being marketed for, and check houseprices.co.uk to review completed sale prices

dunstonh

Does anyone use this site?

Only if I fancy a laugh. Mine has a current estimated value about £50k more than it would go on the market for. Let alone what I would likely to have accept as a realistic price.

GMS

If Zoopla was a site for picking horses it would have a copy of the Racing Post, a blondfold and a pin!!

A more realistic estimate would be http://www.nethouseprices.com/ as this shows sold prices but it is a rough estimate. Sold prices may include repossessions which will be lower and fully refurbished top notch properties which could be higher.

Anything you use will be an estimate. Only a paid surveyor can give an accurate valuation.