Why Zoopla showing negative house price value changes?

[ChocoTrio]

Has anyone noticed that Zoopla is showing negative change in value for house prices? Why? I've tried various areas and streets and its consistent across the board. Is it because of covid?

Lots of people use Zoopla as a price guide. Will this impact anything - either in the shorter or longer term?

They have always gone up and down. They are generally unrealistic and have changed their parameters and now the bands are so wide as to be even more meaningless. I don't think anyone would base a valuation for selling or buying on them, Probably most useful for very standard house in a long road but then it is easy to workout comparable in any case. Interesting for a browse though!

Zoopla is a law unto itself I find. It's been wildly inaccurate in my street for years.
Unless you have a street of dozens of identical houses it's guesswork.

Only newbies try to use Zoopla to inform their offers and then stop when they get rejected a few times or the estate agent talks sense into them. It just isn’t accurate. House prices in many places are actually rising and many areas have become seller’s markets as there just isn’t as much supply to meet demand.

@GrumpyHoonMain

It's not just newbies who use Zoopla - it includes a wide-range of people. E.g. it includes people who were seasoned house buyers who then settled in one house for well over a decade and just want a guide to see how their home is doing in terms of house prices.

Your point does make sense though. Does seem like Zoopla have changed their parameters and not sure what has informed that.

I've just checked mine and it's gone up 15% in last 2.5 years. I agree with the range it's given tbh.
But it depends on what houses are like down your street. It was well off in my last house sale. By about 25%!

They are now a ridiculous guide. I know a semi detached house where the owner has upgraded it and has a beautiful landscaped garden. It is valued far less than the next door half that hasn’t been touched in 30 years and has a smaller plot.

Zoopla has such a wide band though, and doesn’t take into account improvements unless the owner has manipulated it. Mine has a band of three hundred k difference between the top and the bottom valuation. The mid point is not really relevant. Because clearly it doesn’t take into account the approx 100 k worth of improvements.

I think has a rough guide it’s fine, but nothing more.

It has my detached house down as a semi-detached, so it seems wrong to me!

I think the move market site is more accurate tbh than zoopla.

It must just be guessing as it doesn't reflect what is actually happening round here at all.

DH knows several estate agents through his job. Where we are houses are selling quickly and at asking price or above. The house prices are rising here. Even more so in the last month. That isn't reflected on Zoopla's estimates at all.

Rents meanwhile have rocketed - I looked at our house and there's just no way what is says is the average rent, can be. No-one could or should be paying that much money for such small houses.

@buttersidedown that's for you to update though!

@Beebumble2 that's sort of obvious though no? It's based on the last sold price and then applies market movements on it. It's got no way of knowing whether you've done renovations on it or not and people who use it are surely aware of that limitation?

According to Zoopla, the current estimate of my home is £126k higher than what I paid for it a few months ago...

As @GrumpyHoonMain said, it would be nonsensical to base house prices on Zoopla estimates... I find that sold prices are a much better indication since they reflect what people have actually paid, rather than guesswork.