Free House Valuation Services & Online Tools

Free House Valuation Services

How much is my house worth?

It’s a question us Brit’s are obsessed with, and apparently there’s nothing more satisfying than discovering our investment has increased in value!

So how do you find out if you’ve invested well?

Below is a list of free methods to finding out the value of your home- they range from utilising free valuation tools online, to booking free home visit valuations by a local expert. But first, let’s quickly look at “why”…

Why get a free property valuation?

The most common reasons…

  • It’s the first step to selling a home: finding out how much the property/house in question is worth!
  • House valuations aren’t just useful for sellers, but also buyers and investors for research purposes, particularly when preparing to put down an offer.
  • Rightly or wrongly so, we’re a nation fixated with money, and for most of us calculating the value of our most valued asset- our home- is the best way to help determine our net worth.
  • Many home-owners get a valuation so they know what improvements can be made to the property in order to increase the value of it.

However, that’s not to say they’re the only reasons. You don’t even need a reason.

Fortunately, with so many useful and data rich resources available online these days, it’s never been easier to find out the value of our home! As with most things in this digital age, all it takes is a few taps and clicks. Of course, the traditional route of contacting local agents to conduct valuations is still relevant and perhaps still the most reliable method, but it’s not always the easiest, or the most convenient.

Let’s take a look at some of our options…

Different ways of valuing your home

1) Free, no obligation, in-person property valuation services

While most Online Estate Agents largely operate purely online, some of them do actually operate under a Hybrid Agency model (a ‘hybrid agent’ is a cross between an online agent and a traditional high-street agent), which essentially means they provide real in-person valuations by one of their local agents! Similarly with high-street agents, the valuations are typically free. All you need to do is go onto the online agent’s website and complete a booking form to schedule a home valuation.

Purplebricks and YOPA are examples of Hybrid agents that offer free, no obligation, in-person home valuations. Details below…

Please note, “Price” is the cost for using the agent’s services to sell your house after the valuation. You do NOT need to pay in order to get your free valuation! Whether you decide to use their services after the valuation is completely your call!

Estate AgentRatingDurationIncludes / NotesPrice
Rating
3.7
TrustPilot Reviews
Duration
6 months
Includes / Notes

Free package
  • Key features
  • Zoopla listing
  • Negotiation
  • For sale sign
  • In-person valuation
  • No sale, no fee
  • 13 weeks Sole Agency contract
  • App - manage viewings, offers & communication with buyers

*YES, Purplebricks now offer a 100% free house-selling service, no strings attached.

Price

Free

*Free

Visit WebsiteBook Free In-Person Valuation
Rating
4.5
TrustPilot Reviews
Duration
12 months
Includes / Notes

Core package
  • Key features
  • Rightmove listing
  • Zoopla listing
  • Photograghs
  • Floorplan
  • Negotiation
  • For sale sign
  • In-person valuation
  • 16 weeks Sole Agency contract

*Selling fee of £1,499 in a few specific London postcodes.

Price*£999 Inc VAT Visit WebsiteBook Free In-Person Valuation

I try my best to keep the information of each agent up-to-date, but you should read the T&C’s from the agents’ website for the most up-to-date information.

2) Free online property valuation tools [Quick/Instant method]

With the internet at our grubby little finger tips, it’s remarkably easy to get “instant” online valuations. The online valuation tools use historical and current asking price data to calculate average house price valuations.

Of course, there is an obvious trade off with instant online quotes – they’re simply not as accurate as in-person valuations offered by estate agents, like the free valuation offered by Yopa. However, they’re useful enough to give you a quick ballpark figure, which is better than nothing. At the very least, it will give you a figure to work with if you’re toying with the idea of selling your property.

Never rely on online instant valuation tools for accurate house prices, use them for rough estimates based on historical average prices.

There are ultimately two limitations with online valuation tools, first being is that they do not use data that reflects what houses are selling for today – they’re lagging indicators, by several months. Secondly, they work off averages, so they will not take into account renovations or any unique aspects of specific properties (which may increase or decrease the property value).

Online Property Valuation Services

ProviderNotesLink
Notes

Instant online property valuation tool

Zoopla bases their valuation on all 29 million UK homes, and gathers their data from multiple sources including HM Land Registry, Royal Mail, Ordnance Survey, and Registers of Scotland.

The accuracy depends on location and availability of data in an area; the more data they have available, the more accurate it is.

Out of all the free online valuation tools, I suspect Zoopla’s is the most advanced and accurate (relatively speaking) – they just have so much data to work with!

Online Valuation Tool
Notes

Instant Valuations and Intelligence for any property in the UK

“Mouseprice is the leading resource for current UK House Valuation and Historic Sales Prices. Access the full sales price history for any of the UK’s 29 million homes, and discover what our automated valuation model thinks your property is worth today.”

Their words, not mine.

Mouse price’s valuation tool only requests your postcode, property type and the number of bedrooms, so definitely take it with a pinch of salt and have a bit of fun with it.

Online Valuation Tool

3) Historical sold house prices

So while you can use Rightmove and Zoopla to find the current market price, they also provide access to historical sale prices, so you can see how much properties in your area recently sold for. I’d argue that this is much more reliable than the current asking prices, as many properties don’t actually sell for the marketed asking price.

  • Rightmove get their sold house price data directly from the Land Registry and the Registers Of Scotland, so it’s accurate stuff. Here’s Rightmove Sold House Prices tool.
  • Zoopla, similarly, also get their sold house price data directly from the Land Registry and the Registers Of Scotland. Here’s Zoopla’s Sold House Prices data.

4) Property portals & current house prices

Rightmove and Zoopla are the biggest two UK based property portals- between them they hold the largest stock of properties currently for sale.

This is kind of a no-brainer; go onto those websites and utilise their data to find out how much similar properties in the same area are currently demanding.

While this may not be entirely accurate in all cases, especially compared to actual sold price data, and in cases where the owner has made significant improvements to their property (e.g. extensions and conversions), it will allow give you an idea of what other vendors expectations are – there’s some value in that, certainly.

I can’t stress enough though, asking prices are not always reliable indicators, especially in a declining market, because the asking price is often not achieved (which is why I think there’s often more strength in recent sold price data). However, in both cases, they’re lagging indicators, so that’s also worth bearing in mind. For example, the actual “sold price” is the price that was agreed on approximately 4-6 months prior to contracts exchanging, so it’s a reflection of the market back then, and not necessarily today. Point being, making space for wiggle room is often required to get a realistic valuation for today’s market.

5) Your local estate agents

Most estate agents will value your property for free, with no obligations! That means, you can get them to drive over, walk through every room, and assess every nook and cranny, in order to give you an accurate valuation, even if you don’t plan on selling, or using them as your agent. Even if you plan on using an online agent you can get a local agent to evaluate your property!

However, I would advise to do the following:

  • Get valuations from multiple local agents so you can establish the most realistic and accurate valuation;
  • Make sure there are no absolutely obligations when you book your free valuation;
  • If you plan on using an online agent, it’s probably best not to inform the local agent you’re just using them just for a valuation. The better option might just be to tell them you’re going to get a few quotes from other local agents, so at least that way they will know you’re ‘shopping around’;
  • Be warned, estate agents are notorious for harassing potential vendors to work with them. So after you get a valuation, expect them to hound you for your business!

The problem with property valuations

The problem with property valuations is that they can vary wildly, whether it be between local agents or different online tools, so without due diligence it’s extremely easy to rely on miscalculations and lose a fortune.

If I had to offer a single piece of advice, especially for anyone that’s in the process of selling their home, or at least pondering the idea- it is to not rely on just ONE method of valuing your property. Use as many as you can to determine an accurate valuation.

Not happy with your valuation? Is it wrong?

Put the champers on hold.

Is that valuation for real, you ask.

It can be demoralising when you don’t see or hear the numbers you were expecting, and that look of disappointment is unmistakable. Sadly, it happens a lot, and for many reasons!

Obviously there’s a difference between misunderstanding the market and bearing unrealistic expectations, and actually receiving inaccurate information. However, in either scenario, you’ll be in desperate need for clarity.

The reality is, the online valuation tools aren’t notoriously accurate if the information they’re powered by is starved from data that’s required to support your specific case (i.e. historical data of sold and local properties similar to yours), and even local estate agents that understand the local market can get it wrong, or perfectly understandably, be a little jittery when dealing with particularly unique properties that don’t come onto the market often. Ultimately, there’s always a margin for error when it comes to property valuations. So if the number you heard is depressing, perhaps there’s reason to put the champers on ice as opposed to flushing it altogether.

Initial valuations, whether by a local agent or online tools, can be wrong! But also, like I said, there’s a hell of a lot of people with unrealistic expectations (particularly after watching an inspiring Sarah Beeny property show). If you’re trying to value a standard property in a popular area (i.e. where property is often purchased and sold), then the odds of retrieving drastically inaccurate valuations massively declines.

Run a few online tools, get a few quotes from your local agents, and monitor the local market… they can’t all be gone.

Increasing the value of your home before selling

Do you know what many upcoming home-sellers do before placing their property onto Rightmove for sale?

They find out the value of their home from a local agent, and while doing so, find out if there are any improvements that can be made to significantly increase the value of their property (i.e. build an extension, convert a bathroom into a bedroom etc). Savvy.

Depending on finances, the maths, the potential gains, and appetite for risk and reward… it may seem like a no-brainer.

Just food for thought, that’s all, really.

Average houses prices in England

By no means are national average house prices stats indicative of how much your property is worth. In fact, average house price data is pretty useless for valuating homes, because the data can be easily skewed. For example, let’s say that in one week that ten houses sold in London for £20m each, and five houses sold for £500k each. The average house price for London would be massively elevated because more mansions sold in that particular timeframe, even though there are more properties worth £500k across London.

That said, average house prices can provide a general (and lagging) indicator of which way house prices are swinging and a rough indication of where the wealth in the country is, which can be useful.

The GOV releases monthly house price stats covering average house prices in England, which is gathered from HM Land Registry.

In June 2023, data shows that on average, house prices have risen by 0.7% since May 2023, and the average property in the UK valued at £287,546.

Here’s a breakdown by region:

RegionAverage house price in June 2023 (£)
East Midlands248,678
East of England351,213
London527,979
North East161,034
North West215,631
South East391,406
South West321,152
West Midlands250,743
Yorkshire and the Humber208,867

For the latest stats, you may want to hop over to the GOV website.

2 Join the Conversation...

Guest Avatar
John M macmillan 9th July, 2018 @ 11:20

The whole site and particularly for me the advice as to online or hybrid as opposed to traditional estate agents is first class and really can't be faulted..... thank you very much!

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Neil 28th October, 2020 @ 08:43

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https://st-jamesinvestments.com/tell-us-about-your-property/

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