Last week I read an article posted by the Lancaster Guardian that implied Lancaster and Morecambe’s homeowners do not know the value of their home. The article read that many homeowners undervalued their home by as much as £46,000. I found this rather ridiculous, especially given the average value of property in both towns is actually under £160,000- hence we had to set our research team into finding out more. There is no way people thought their home was worth so much less!
The team came back with some really interesting results. It was discovered that on average 70% of people questioned did not the true value of their home. 45% of people undervalued their homes. 25% of people overvalued their homes. Only 30% of people had a true idea.
We questioned were the £46,000 figure came from. This was the overall amount, however please remember, property values in the south are considerably higher than in the north!
Locally though it did throw up some really interesting insights. We have recently sold a home in South Lancaster where the homeowner thought is home was only worth around £120,000. We sold it for £135,000. Over in Bare, a client thought their home was worth around £200,000 – we sold it for £235,000 and in Bolton-Le-Sands another homeowner thought their home was only worth around £310,000 and we sold it for £335,000.
We’ve also had a few sales where the properties sold for more than we expected! Take Primrose Court, in Primrose. Despite another agent trying to sell it, we sold it for £5000 more than the asking price and a semi-detached home in Morecambe has just sold for £10,000 more than the asking price. We have also recently agreed on a sale in Lancaster for £20,000 more than we were asking.
When it comes to valuing homes, market data is hugely important. It is why all of our valuations are carefully researched. With just 3 in 10 people having an accurate idea of their home’s value, it is no surprise 78% of sellers state ‘Good Market Knowledge’ is a top priority when choosing an agent (Dataloft, Property Academy, 2020).
One thing for certain is this. The true value of any home is what someone will pay for it.
If you’d like to track what is happening with property prices, check out the market reports over on our website. The link is here
Thanks for reading
Michelle x