To assume mortgage valuations are never higher than the purchase price?

[multisurfacewipes]

We're buying a house at the moment. The market is slow, and this one had been on a while, reduced it's price a couple of times, and then they accepted our offer which was quite a lot less.

We've just had the mortgage provider's valuation back and it's exactly the same as the purchase price. Am I right in thinking that's as good as can be expected - that they never value anything higher on principle, because houses are only ever worth as much as someone is willing to pay for them?

A mortgage valuation will never be higher than the agreed price because all the lender is interested in is whether they'll get their money if it's repossessed.

Mine was higher when I bought my first house. We were buying from a relative who wanted us to just pay what they paid previously so it was a total bargain. So it does happen.

I had one higher once. The seller insisted on a cash payment on the day of exchange to continue. It was when prices were rising really quickly.