Is Zoopla's price estimate a good reference?

[HeartOrHeadDecision]

Just wondering whether in general you find Zoopla's estimate price a valid reference? I know it won't take into account any major renovation works or decorations but in general? If we talk about smth ordinary.
Especially if you bought/sold recently.

You could use it as a general guide only. A house needs to be valued by a person walking round it to give you a better idea.

I think it’s just an average of recent sales in your area for that type of property. What it gives for my house looks overvalued because the other houses on the street that have sold recently are bigger (although same type of house and number of bedrooms), nicer and have bigger gardens. So I’d take it with a pinch of salt especially if recent nearby sales aren’t indicative of your property.

I don't find it very accurate.

No it's fairly meaningless in roads where houses are not all exactly the same. Gardens, square footage, quality of finish, period built, off street parking, etc will all affect the cost and the Zoopla average may only cover a very limited number of properties which are not representative.

It’s not very meaningful or accurate

I think it’s a basic algorithm of last sold price plus the local area % increase in the interim = current price.

it’s a very blunt tool. Mine gives a massive range.

No, not reflective of real market price at all.

It's not reflective of my house as I bought mine in part-exchange with the builder - so it looks like the original price is £160k less than I paid for it! And the estimated current market value has followed on from that.

Nope, about as useless as a chocolate teapot.

@HeartOrHeadDecision I live on a new build estate and the houses that are an identical style to mine (including plot size) vary by a huge amount so I personally don't find it very accurate

I find it completely inaccurate and pointless. I'm not sure what the MN obsession is with it - so many posts reference 'Zoopla say's is worth X but its for sale for Y'. In real life I don't know anyone that looks at it!

I honestly don't think it's as bad as everyone makes out for the majority of case uses, IF used as a figure to average out along with other valuations.

So you could use the Zoopla estimate, then go onto 2-3 well-known estate agents websites in your area and use their free online valuation tools to get a few different valuations along with Zoopla's, and then average it out.

Although, Zoopla's "High" seems very high, but in general, the lower side of their estimate, between Zoopla's "Low" and "Estimate" price seems a safe bet. Say if the "low" price is showing as £250k and the "estimate" price is £265k, meet in the middle or slightly lower, so somewhere around £255-257k.

I wouldn't use it alone, I'd cross reference with other similar properties recently sold in the area. Interestingly, Zoopla's estimate is £100k more than our offer on the house we're currently buying! I'm not sure the algorithm reflects current house buying situation...

It valued ours £20k too much. We laughed. Thankfully we knew the ballpark

It is vaguely reflective of the likely price. For example the poster above reckons it was £20k out on her house - that would be 4% out on a £500k house, so it still gives you some indication of the probable value. You certainly wouldn't want to take it for gospel though - I just looked at mine and it is more like £100k over because I haven't extended and everything needs doing.

We’ve just had in-laws house valued and the valuation was for £300k. Zoopla’s estimate was £440k so way out.

As a pp said it’s based on average of sales in the area so if all the houses are the same then it’s likely to be more accurate than an area where there’s a mix of different types of property.

Ha! No... Not unless the house was sold within the last five years.

My father's house went for £50,000,000+ more than Zoopla suggested. Thank goodness we had a decent estate agent! The ones from the city just looked at Zoopla. This was two years ago.

I used the middle of the estimated range for my last remortgage, and the surveyor who came out on behalf of the lender agreed with it. We’ve been here 5 years and haven’t really done anything to it though, so it’ll just be purchase price times average increase in the area.

I don’t think so. Our house value on there is way over what houses in this area/style/size actually are marketed at if you check current houses up for sale.

Nope, absolutely inaccurate

Your dad’s house sold for 50 million over the zoopla estimate?

Sorry, posted too soon. For example, both our house and our neighbour’s house have been sold within the last 5 years, but they paid about 40k more. As it is now, ours is finished to a much higher standard, much bigger plot, and a full unconverted second building on site which could easily form a whole separate dwelling, and yet the top estimate for ours is £250k less than theirs.

In conclusion, the estimates are total nonsense!

And they can't see the size of the garden / off road parking etc

No it's not reflective of accurate prices. You could look on netsoldhouses to get the actual prices houses sold for.

God, I wish! £50k. No idea why that would autocorrect on me, not the kind of numbers I would usually experience! 😂

Fifty thousand is quite enough to make me think twice though.