London House Prices - big differences in valuations - who to believe?

[AveEldon]

We are in SW London - just had 2 valuations - £1.05M 8 weeks ago & £1.2M just now (different agents)
I was expecting the second valuation to be under £1M

My rightmove alerts are filled with price reductions
Is the market falling??

We are in zone 1 and have reduced by 20%. I wish we had gone in lower from. The start as the initial buyer interest seems to have passed

The market seems to have fallen every time I look...

They always say go for three valuations so there's a chance of gaining some consensus. Get another agent in!

What have similar properties sold for recently?
And how urgently do you need to move?
And how much money from the sale do you need to move to wherever you're moving?

Beyond that, what hesterton said.

Did both agents bring comparables with them to justify their valuation?

Did the £1.2 valuation suggest marketing at that price but realistically expecting offers below that?

The £1.2 valuation suggested we should achieve close to that

He brought comparables but I wondered if people are also negotiating reductions between sale agreed and completion

Comparables of places on the market, or under offer?

It would also be worth showing those comparables other other agents and asking their opinions on them - the vendors are likely to have had a few valuations

Agent A was able to give us some insight into some of the houses Agent B was instructed on, including one that was on at a high price because the vendors were in no hurry to sell, and another than was overpriced because the owners had over-paid for building work and couldn't face losing money

Obviously Agent B told us that they were fairly priced to reflect the market...

They were also able to give us the offer prices vs asking prices which helped us work out what to put our house on the market for vs what offer to accept, because once buyers get it into their head that the true price is 10%/15%/20% under asking, your asking price has to reflect that you are going to get offers in that region

We're in a rented house which is being sold. Our landlords got it valued by one estate agent who obviously gave them an estimate that they didn't believe, so they got another estate agent in who gave them a higher estimate and probably spun them a yarn about how they'd get it sold and get them lots of money for it. So they gave us 3 months notice to leave.

We're about to leave and despite the estate agents bringing around what looks like everyone in the area looking for a house, whether they're interested or not (and a LOT just don't turn up - maybe 50%) they still haven't sold. Other houses in the area are on for similar prices and are also not selling despite some dropping their prices.

I think the estate agents are overpricing properties, and sellers are also working on the assumption that prices are continuing to rise, which is not necessarily true.

Comparables were their stock that is under offer / sold plus other agents asking/sold