Zoopla Valuation Correct?

SpiderLegs

michael1234 wrote: »

Clearly that method is more accurate the more recent the sale. Also, significant house improvements (normally extensions) may affect the accuracy of the valuation. But for a property last sold in the past ten years say, sharing a postcode with similar houses, with no new building works done since last sold and in a broadly similar condition, the valuation will be pretty accurate. Of course not all properties fit that mould and so zoopla would struggle in those cases to come of with something realistic.

Three houses, same postcode, all next to each other.

House A - not sold in 15 years
House B - sold 5 years ago
House C - sold 6 years ago

House A and B are identical. House C has a loft and garage conversion.

Zoopla thinks Houses B and C are the same value, while House A is 30k more.

hazyjo

michael1234 wrote: »

At grave risk of being shot down (!!) I have to disagree with almost every post on this thread apart from the question from the OP.

Zoopla clearly uses the last actual sale price (if known) and applies house price inflation to that price to get the current one. It may tweak that price a little but that is the main method.

Clearly that method is more accurate the more recent the sale. Also, significant house improvements (normally extensions) may affect the accuracy of the valuation. But for a property last sold in the past ten years say, sharing a postcode with similar houses, with no new building works done since last sold and in a broadly similar condition, the valuation will be pretty accurate. Of course not all properties fit that mould and so zoopla would struggle in those cases to come of with something realistic.

So accurate in fact, that the last time we had a "real" valuation from local estate agents, I was very surprised how two out of four came up with exactly the same figure as zoopla. It felt to me that they were a little lazy and had used that number as their base figure subject to the obligatory viewing of our house.

Explain mine then. See above. No extensions on either. One house was 8 years old (overpriced on Zoopla), the other I sold in 2017 which had previously sold in 2006 and 2013 (underpriced on Zoopla).

Albala

If you go to Zoopla, there is a page where they ask for details about a house. It seems from the site that it may then use this to correct estimates. Sounds fine on the surface, as it may not 'know' about an extension, or may have the number of bedrooms wrong. But once I found that out, I got very dubious about it, because I have not found anything to suggest that they check that any input is accurate.

hazyjo

Albala wrote: »

If you go to Zoopla, there is a page where they ask for details about a house. It seems from the site that it may then use this to correct estimates. Sounds fine on the surface, as it may not 'know' about an extension, or may have the number of bedrooms wrong. But once I found that out, I got very dubious about it, because I have not found anything to suggest that they check that any input is accurate.

Still didn't put mine anywhere near their actual values - both properties were way out. Plus, you're right. Anyone could put anything in, so anyone relying on a Zoopla valuation needs to give their head a wobble.