How accurate do people find Zoopla?

[zooplahoopla]

We had a low offer on our house (about 60% of asking price) and the offerees made reference to the Zoopla estimate.

I was quite shocked to see that the Zoopla estimate was about 70% of our asking price which we had quite carefully considered and which was the mid-valuation of 3 local EA's

I've randomly compared a few local properties on Rightmove and some seem accurate, others way off. Anyone else had any similar experience? Or it is usually a bit more accurate?

[NoelEdmondshair]

Well if Zoopla is accurate we have just paid nearly £100,000 too much for our new house!

[microserf]

and we paid 75k too much. and the people who offered on the property down the road paid 90k too much.

[zooplahoopla]

Glad it's not just me who finds it wildly inaccurate then

A local 5 storey Grade 2 listed Georgian townhouse (admittedly in some state of disrepair, but not derelict) is valued at 60k, whereas the place next door to it is £1.3m! Crazy....

[ChristinedePizan]

Zoopla undervalued my flat to the tune of £50k so I wouldn't pay too much attention to it. If your buyers are looking at actual sold prices, then that's one thing but Zoopla estimates are frankly rubbish. I would have thought your EA would tell your buyers that to be honest

[zooplahoopla]

The EA's were v quick to point that out to offerees I think (we rejected their offer not surprisingly!)

And Zoopla itself seems to say that to get a more accurate valuation, a local EA should be instructed.

Nothing's sold on our street for over 3 years (think it's more like 5 years) so there won't be much up to date info on actual sold prices.

Anyway, thanks everyone for putting my mind at rest about Zoopla!

[AurraSing]

I'm sure zoopla just take the last selling price of a property and multiply it by the average house increase since. They don't take into account improvements (to the house or the area) or whether the previous buyers paid over/under the odds for the house in the first place. I live in a row of identical houses and zoopla value them all very differently. I can't believe the shrubs in the garden 3 doors down add £50k to it's value. If it does I'm off to the garden centre this afternoon!

[Ciske]

Zoopla might be right if all the properties in the street are the same size and type, but that's normally not the case. Our street is a combination of large and small flats, plus some houses and then in close proximity we also have some bigger 4 bedroom houses with gardens. Some of the properties face into a busy shopping street, others are in quiet cul-de-sacs or close to a park. As a result the suggested Zoopla is all over the place, it means nothing.

[Fizzylemonade]

My house on zoopla (we bought it 13 months ago) values it at £8k less than I paid for it.

We have converted the double garages into a playroom with storage!

Doesn't take that into account!

Plus in the next 2 years we will be extending the kitchen, it also won't take that into consideration.

The house we sold we gutted from top to bottom, new bathrooms (got rid of the pink ones with gold taps) new kitchen, new boiler etc etc but zoopla doesn't know all this took place which is why an estate agent values the place your selling.

Maybe you could point this out to your buyers

[NoseyNooNoo]

Our house that we bought last year was valued at about £175k less on Zoopla than what we paid for it. This is based I suspect on our post code only having 6 houses on it, of which only 2 have sold in the last 15 years and those happen to be the 2 bungalows. The other 4 houses including ours are 4 bedroom detached houses but Zoopla didn't seem to take that into account.

[narmada]

Hmm, think mumsnet might not be keen on you posting, Lawrence, but I could be wrong.

That said, I actually find zoopla quite accurate for our area of SW London, and I like that it considers square meterage as one of the factors influencing price - too many EAs and sellers are totally blind to the impact of square meterage on value, IMHO!

[noddyholder]

Completely inaccurate. I develop property and am always checking and comparing prices and valuations and it has NEVER been right or anywhere near

[zooplahoopla]

Thanks for regurgitating what it says on the website the info Lawence.

Even if I complete the additional info to make the estimation "more accurate" it's still waaayyyy off the 3 local Estate Agents valuation.

Just seems like it's a waste of everyone's time for these estimations to be generated. DH thought the shockingly low valuation was close to being defamatory

[narmada]

I still contend it's fairly accurate around here - or at least, it is if you're trying to work out the value of, say, a standard 30s semi. Less accurate on something like our current rental property, which is a tiny cottage in a private estate full of mega-mansions.

[NoelEdmondshair]

Oh, Lawrence - you're info is so inaccurate that you've got my new house listed as a detached when it most definitely has another house attached to it and has done for the past hundred years

[NoelEdmondshair]

*your

[AnnoyingOrange]

I have found it to be way off reality in my area, I think because of the mix of housing and fairly infrequent sales.

[ChippingInLovesEasterEggs]

Hi Lawrence :)

Narmada - I have no idea why you'd think that - it's not like Lawrence started a thread advertising Zoopla!

It's way off in my area too, but the 'sold prices' is great

[narmada]

My understanding was that mumsnet do not like people posting about commercial ventures on chat boads, regardless of who started the thread. I started a thread a while ago which mentioned several products; the producer of said product replied and their comment was duly removed by MNHQ. It was about formula milk though so maybe that was an added impetus given the various codes of conduct on formula advertising.

[narmada]

PS chipping, no need to be so snippy.

[thomasbodley]

it's still waaayyyy off the 3 local Estate Agents valuation.

Estate agents' valuations are about as accurate as Zoopla's. The last time I sold, we asked 5 agents and there was £200k between the lowest and the highest valuation.

Interestingly (perhaps this is the 'wisdom of crowds') the actual price we achieved was almost bang on the mean average of the five guesses valuations.

[Collaborate]

Zoopla's crap. End of. As much use as a chocolate tea pot.

[ChippingInLovesEasterEggs]

Narmada - there wasn't anything snippy about what I said.

[zooplahoopla]

I know all valuations are guesswork but at least the EA's take the time to actually look around your property and have some experience of the local market rather than just applying some blanket random, unexplained formula without any thought process.

Until I'd actually looked at the site (and got the opinions of other wise MNers!) I'd assumed it was some relatively accurate tool. But if it's well known that it's pretty useless, I won't be put out by people quoting it

[tyler80]

I think it can be ok for some areas, where streets are full of broadly similar houses. The road we live on is a real mish mash and most of the estimations are way off, and it only takes one house in really bad condition or one house that's been bought for a lot more money than it's worth to really throw it off.

For example the house we rent sold a couple of years ago for roughly double what it would be normally worth. It's been sold to a developer who in a few years will knock it down to gain access to the land behind. But zoopla uses this figure which inflates the prices along the road (when in fact this high price means the houses will no longer back onto fields in a few years time and thus be worth less!)