Owner wanting over home report value

[holigogo]

I’m trying to buy in Scotland for the first time so the system is new to me. Is it normal for owners to want over home report value or have I been unlucky? Twice I’ve offered on property at home report value and twice the owner has refused the offer as they want more than home report? This baffles me. I have no idea what I should be offering, what price band to look for as it seems that property within my budget on paper isn’t necessarily within my budget. For a system that is supposed to be less complex this is stressful! Any basic rule I should work to? Thanks.

Just out of curiosity I looked at some data reports over the past year.

Couldn’t find any for the West but interestingly in Edinburgh the highest performing region when price over Home Report is the metric was Edinburgh West.

Where in 2025 so far it has achieved an average of 102% of the HR price.

This correlates exactly with what I see daily in Glasgow, there are as many properties going at or below HR as there are going for silly amounts over.

Don’t believe everything people tell you, especially when they have a vested interest in keeping prices high.

Also take the findings of the HR with a pinch of salt - they are quick whizz rounds. I’d get a second survey of your own.

Ours identified lots of things not on the HR

Sorry to jump on someone else's thread but I'd be really interested to hear more about your experience of the market in Glasgow @Meeplemakeglasgow!

I've just started looking at flats and the discrepancy between the "offers over" price on Rightmove and the Home report value can be £30-40k. Add onto that a percentage over the HR value and there is basically no relationship between the listed price and an actual sale price.

Are sellers really getting 20% over HR value on a regular basis in say Shawlands or the West End? Or is around the HR value a more reasonable expectation?

@FrizzledFrazzle You are right, the relationship between HR and the Offers Over price is disjointed to say the least.

The purpose of it is purely marketing, an EA’s ideal customer path is to attract them with a lower price, allow them to get emotionally attached to the property and persuade them to make a ‘competitive offer based on the local market’ at a closing date.

That is how they achieve so much over HR for some properties.

Many of them don’t agree with this practice, but in reality if one of them does it then they all have to otherwise they lose competitive advantage.

The areas you mentioned are two out of a handful of outliers amongst Glasgow and the West where it unfortunately is possible for properties to go for 20% over.

The West End always has been competitive and thanks to certain national media outlets promoting the Southside and causing an influx the market there is beginning to turn the same way.

Tenements are more likely to go over HR, especially well kept ones with 2 bedrooms.

The more modern flats, of which there are many, don’t tend to go for as much.

It is possible to get one for around HR though, you just need to be selective, possibly be prepared to renovate and, strange as this may sound, be prepared to go for more expensive properties.

To explain this, it is not uncommon for a property valued at around £280k to go for £350+ in these areas but a more expensive property at £400k may go for HR or a negligible amount above.

It means you can possibly get a much better property for not that much more.

There are examples such as a flat like this, which is on a main road on the outskirts of Shawlands heading into Newlands that went for £420’000.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/0b5ac75c-3174-4cf9-9402-b3b4d463c811

Then there was a beautiful terrace house also on a main road on the outskirts of Shawlands heading into Newlands that went for exactly the same price.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/c83c0422-8924-40fb-9b2d-9aa2efb0e753

To be clear, I don’t know anything personally about either of these properties and haven’t saw the HR for any of them, so there could be many other reasons why they sold for these amounts, but often there is more competition for flats like that than there is for houses.

If you take Southside, WE and East Ren/Dun out the equation though then you are much more likely to get a property for HR or below.

It’s a complete lottery, often driven by the demand for a single house or individual street.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply @Meeplemakeglasgow , I really appreciate it!

Weirdly, it does make sense that something a bit more expensive goes for around the HR value - if you have 20% above HR in cash to put towards somewhere smaller, you might as well use it to reduce the LTV for your mortgage somewhere larger! And the only places I have seen listed at fixed price are around the £450k price point, which fits that model.

The more modern flats are often much smaller, with an entirely open plan living/kitchen area and several bathrooms. That makes the amount of usable floorspace significantly less - I think this probably a big reason for the price difference.

It's tricky - in 3-5 years, we would definitely be in a position to look at something more expensive, but right now it would be quite a stretch. And for practical reasons, if we move it would be either asap or in about a year. Lots to think about!

@FrizzledFrazzle Not a problem, it’s difficult so wish you good luck with your search.

Just to mention though I read back my reply and think I might have given the impression that it is normal for properties to go for 20% over, which isn’t true.

It isn’t uncommon, as in we see it a lot more than other areas, but it is far from the normal.

Most will sell for less.

if properties are consistently going over the hr value, then the fault lies with the surveyor undervalueing. imo as a surveyor.

But that is how the Scottish system works.

‘Offers over’

I agree.

In the days before HR, in 2001 we sold a flat in Dennistoun in Glasgow and the estate agent wanted to market it at an O/O price well below what it would sell for. We refused to allow them to set such a low price because we didn't want to disappoint and waste the time of potential buyers who would be massively outbid. Even with us insisting on it going on at a higher O/O price, it sold for 25% over the O/O having attracted people who had been priced out of the west end.