It’s good to be house proud. Of course, it is. In fact, it is ultimately the main factor in making a house a home when living there, whether it be as simple as adding a few photos around the property to designing a living space that suits your exact needs and wants. But when it then comes to putting our home on the market, a study has found that it’s leading to us hugely overvaluing our property.
The study, which can be found on Property Rescue’s website, found that people are on average overestimating the value of their home by a staggering £50,000, which would make the average cost of a home in the UK £288,263 compared to the actual average of just £235,673, an increase of just over 22%.
It appears it’s the North West which is the most houseproud, with homeowners valuing their properties 44% higher than the Government’s house price index. The average cost of a property in the North West is £168,261 but residents in the likes of Manchester, Liverpool and Lancaster were upping that price and believe that actually their homes are worth closer to the £242,449 mark on average.
Interestingly, it’s largely across the North which saw people more houseproud, with homeowners in Yorkshire and the Humber valuing their homes at around £55,000 higher than the actual value, a rise of 32%, while North East homeowners are overestimating the value of their home by almost 40% from an actual value of £134,545 on average to £187,533.
In Scotland it’s a similar story, with people believing their home to be worth around 23% higher than the actual value, with the Welsh valuing their property a third higher from £169,436 actual price to £224,068.
In contrast, Londoners are showing little faith in the value of their homes at present, with many believing their property is worth less than the actual value. For the first time in three decades, the capital’s population is falling following many people’s decision to move out of the city, and it’s having an effect on those committed to living in the city.
Overall, homeowners in the city are undervaluing their homes by around £25,000, believing their homes to be worth an average of around £454,764 when actually they are worth £479,000, a 5.1% difference.
It will be interesting to see how confidence in home values change over the coming months as the property market looks to get back on its feet, with the new 5% mortgage scheme. This is going to have a particular impact on those in London, and potentially those living in the towns and cities which have in face seen a boom in demand as people do look to move from the capital. Places such as Oxford, Watford, and towns in the likes of Dorset and Cornwall have all seen an increased demand, and that’s only going to instill further confidence in homebuyers when it comes to the price of their property.
