House prices near you

[iloveaglassofwine]

We're in the process of remortgaging with another lender and so I had a chat with the local estate agent last week about what our house would be valued at.

They remembered the house from when we bought it and suggested it would be valued at what we paid for it two years ago. We're not moving and in many ways, it doesn't really matter - other than we could have got a better mortgage rate, but it just made me wonder about whether house prices really have increased as much as they say or is it more likely that asking prices have but actual sold prices haven't.

I know London and much of the south east is another story and prices really have shot up. We're in the North West, in what many would say is a desirable location (although to me it's just "home") so is it the same across much of the country - house prices are pretty much static?

Sorry we are in London and couldn't afford to buy our 2up 2down end of terrace today. Prices have gone up during peak last 12 months but have settled down now.

But more so because we have a DD now and I think with the lending criteria we wouldn't get an MIP, we would need a bigger deposit. We had to have 15% deposit because I'm a forriner as it was

we're in the south west in a very desirable town and prices are ridiculous if you are looking in the good locations. for example a standard 3 bed semi would have been worth just shy of £200k in my road at the peak in 2007 it may have dropped slightly in price after crash, but are now selling for 270 - 300k. It can't be sustainable

We're in the NW too in a 'naice' area and prices have definitely increased over the last year or so. Things moving quicker too. Was the EA talking about your particular house or prices generally? I think maybe if you are close to a stamp duty threshold or maybe paid a premium for a nicely decorated house, you might not see much of a difference in 2 years.

We are in Hampshire so outer south east. Remortgaged twice since we bought in 2009. Both banks' valuation gave us an increase each time. So yes it must have gone up if the banks think so. I didn't bother asking the real estate agents.

I'm in the south east. Bought my house just under 2 years ago for 215k, within the last month 2 identical houses on my street have sold, their asking prices were 290 and 300. It seems crazy unsustainable

South West village. Prices are very static here - only now just a shade above 2007 prices in most cases. Watching closely and have been for a good few years as we don't intend to stay very long. Would be happy if we broke even on the sale price + work we've done! Any house price boom seems a loong way from here...

Prices in London have actually started to officially fall now. Still up overall for 2014 but a lot of the gains have been reversed

Im in the midlands and house prices here are the same as they were in 2004.
We had our house valued just after my DD was born and the price on the valuation 2 or 3 weeks ago is about the same. Its heartbreaking really because we have spent so much money on the house during this time I had really hoped it would have gone up. If we sell now we wont get a single penny back from the home improvements

We moved earlier this year. Our house in Yorkshire was valued at £275,000 in 2007 and we sold it for £210,000 in February. 2007 was a peak, though.

We just sold our house in Norfolk. We got £10k less for it than we paid in 2004.
Superb!

I should add that we've moved to a different part of the country where many house prices have doubled in that time...

Prices have risen steadily here since we bought this place 10yrs ago, not dramatic increases but definitely upward movements.

According to Zoopla, this house is currently worth 12% more than we paid. We have done (ongoing!) lots of building work, renovation & improvement to the property which has added value that Zoopla does not take into account (it works on the original house price) but comparing it to similar standard and sized properties in the area, we could expect around 17% increase on original purchase price. Not that we plan to sell, the improvements are being done for our own benefit and enjoyment.

According to zoopla, the house we sold to buy this ken, has only risen by 9% in the last 10yrs. The current value is pretty accurate as it's a very common style of house and they tend to all go for the same price, give or take 5k for decor.

Ken? Who is ken?!

Zoopla isn't at all accurate so I wouldn't even bother looking at their guesses!

Well, looking at the local property press and whatnot, it is actually not far off for my area and property

My valued today 220k nice area NW zoopla price 225k so not far out

Interesting! It was £80k out for my recently sold house sadly! Would've loved that extra cash!

Zoopla doesn't look very accurate here - two identical houses with 20% difference in values! One was sold this year so price is definite. The other has not changed hands for 10 years and has a suggested value £100,000 greater.

We recently re-mortgaged and had an estate agent valuation. Nationwide only used Zoopla figures based on our buying price three years ago (which was low as the house was a state) and entered a value £50,000 less than the EA. Didn't really affect the re-mortgaging. Zoopla isn't very accurate. If you look on Rightmove at sold prices, you can produce lots of sold price graphs for any postcode you choose.

Zoopla massively inaccurate here too (NW)

We are in the process of selling our flat in the London suburbs (the cheap bit) after almost 6 years if massive negative equity. We accepted an offer but the bank has valued it at 10k below the offer price, which was itself 5k under the asking price, so we're waiting to hear from the buyer. According to our agent this is happening more and more. As you can imagine we are not impressed but it shows how the asking and selling prices are completely different

Seems everyone has had different experiences. It doesn't matter massively to us since we're not moving and the rate difference isn't vast, I was just intrigued really. I am sure house prices in our village have gone up and now I wonder if we paid over the odds 2 years ago. Hey ho.

Two and a half beds down my road were £500k two and a bit years ago, now £750k. You can guess where we live.

I've given up caring. DP and I rent the ground floor of one house for a not unreasonable price.

As others have said, I think only sold prices as reported on Rightmove etc are clear indications of what house prices have done - but even then a sale price might be out of kilter if a seller want to sell quickly to avoid repossession for instance / a buyer pay over the odds to move before school application deadline or whatever reason. You have to have a reality check and take it all with a pinch of salt. Zoopla / Rightmove "current values" have no ability to differentiate by area / roads which are well known to be no-go areas or alternatively highly desirable or differentiate on the basis of condition / money that has been spent on a property since it was purchased. They just apply a blanket % increase / decrease to quite a large area.