How accurate are Rightmove house price estimations?

[Cavalierchaos]

There's a house near me that I adore and I look at its Rightmove page every now and then and see what Rightmove thinks it's worth.

So it sold in 2019 for 700k, and was predicted at 870k a couple of months ago, and now it's just updated to 900k! Do houses really go up in price by 30k in two months? Obviously Rightmove doesn't know about any work the owners have done to it, I assume?

What's your experience of these price estimations?

As I can’t see the photos, it would be a very mystical meg style guess…
Perhaps they discovered a gold mine in the back garden?

I think they just apply a house price rise to the previous sale price. So they wouldn't know about work done on the house. It would depend on whether the previous sale price was a good deal or whether they overpaid.

they are averages of averages and should never be taken as anything other than vague estimates for an entire area, not a particular house

That's a rough estimate and a good place to start. But does not take into account all important aspects of a property. I do keep track of my property on Zoopla and Rightmove and they are soooo different! Basically £100k difference! In this case, Zoopla had a valuation closer to the valuation than Rightmove but was still a bit overvalued!
I wonder if they do that to encourage people to put their properties on the market and thus get listing fees!

Zoopla and Rightmove both just use past sold prices, inflation and local sold prices to estimate the amount. You'll also see its not one price but a range from low to high because they have NO idea of the condition of the property or any upgrades.

Someone where I am used middle zoopla estimate obviously. The fact the house has not had any update in 30 years just passed by them🤦
I just discard these estimates tbh and look at comparable properties myself

We sold our house earlier thus year for £90k more than the Rightmove estimated price. It was wildly inaccurate. I think you need to look at what’s sold recently nearby as well as the current state of the house in question.

They can be totally inaccurate as some house sales are private and not listed.

Agree they are more just a guide, really need to inspect the property and compare vs. others that have sold or are selling

These price estimates are very rough and not to be relied upon at all.

Of course it is very unlikely that a house has increased 30k in 2 months. The housing market isn't even hot at the moment.

They use algorithms and what will probably have happened is that a couple of expensive houses have sold in that postcode in recent weeks or months so that increases the Rightmove valuation of other houses.

I would be very cautious of current values looking at this article
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-14919143/Property-asking-prices-fall-Rightmove-records-worst-seasonal-dip-20-years.html?ico=mol_desktop_home-newtab&molReferrerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fhome%2Findex.html&_gl=15m7830_gcl_auMjc0Nzc3OTk5LjE3NDgzMzI3NjUuMTMyNTkyNDk4NC4xNzUyNzM5NzIzLjE3NTI3Mzk3MjI._gaNzMxODcyMjQuMTczMjU0OTI0Mw.._ga_C9F47K6NW6*czE3NTMwODQ1MjMkbzE1NiRnMSR0MTc1MzA4NTMyNSRqNDAkbDAkaDE4MjA3Mjc5MzQ.

I would use a combination of houseprices.io (the value if the last sale price had increased by RPI) and Otta property which will indicate whether your home type has increased or decreased for that postcode over a given period.

Remember to allow for any significant improvements added since it last sold (see pictures on RM if available). Don't include inspirational writings and twigs! 😃