Guides · Estate agents
Explaining a rising or falling local market to sellers
Most sellers have a view of the market before you arrive. It may come from a neighbour's sale, a news headline or the asking prices they have seen online. Your job is to set that view against what homes like theirs have actually sold for.
Completed sales are the firmest evidence you can show. They are public, they are recent and they record what buyers paid. This guide covers how to read the direction of a local market from sold prices and how to explain it to a seller in plain terms.
Start with completed sales
Every sale of a home in England and Wales is recorded by HM Land Registry in its Price Paid Data. Each record gives the price, the date of completion, the address and the property type. It is the record buyers, sellers and surveyors can all check.
Asking prices show what sellers hope to get. Sold prices show what buyers paid. When a seller quotes a figure from a property portal, the guide to asking price and sold price explains why the two often differ.
Reading the direction of the market
Look at the median price for the postcode district over several quarters, not one month. A single month can contain only a handful of sales, and one large house can move the figure on its own.
Then split the sales by type. A rise in the median can simply mean that more detached houses sold this quarter. If the median for each type is steady, the market for each type is steady too. The guide to working out house price change shows how to compare periods fairly.
Count the sales as well as the prices. Fewer completed sales than in the same quarter last year can mean buyers are more cautious, even before prices move.
Look closer to home too. A district can hold streets that sell well above or below its median. Where the seller's street has enough sales, show its recent sales next to the district figures, so the seller can see where their street sits.
Checklist
- Show the median by property type, not just the overall figure
- Use several quarters, not a single month
- Put the date next to every sale you quote
- Explain the gap between completion and registration
- Keep a note of the sales behind your advice
- Confirm your price advice in writing
Allow for the lag in the data
Sales take two to eight weeks to be registered after completion, and sometimes longer. Completion itself often comes two or three months after the price was agreed. So the sold prices you show reflect offers made some months earlier.
Say this to the seller. In a market that is turning, the latest registered sales describe the market as it was. Your own knowledge of current viewings, offers and sales agreed fills the gap, and you can present it as your professional view alongside the recorded evidence.
Explaining a rising market
In a rising market, sellers often expect the next sale to beat the last one by a wide margin. Show them the recent sales of homes like theirs, in date order, so they can see the actual pace of change.
As an example, if three similar semi-detached houses on nearby streets sold for £310,000, £318,000 and £322,000 over the past nine months, that is the range to discuss. A figure well above the most recent sale needs a clear reason, such as a larger plot or a recent extension. These figures are only an illustration.
Explaining a falling or flat market
A falling market is harder to explain, because sellers anchor on the price a neighbour achieved a year or two ago. Put that older sale next to the more recent ones, with the dates shown. The dates explain the difference better than any description.
Keep to the record. Say what the recent sales show, how many there were and how they compare with the year before. Avoid predictions in either direction. A seller can weigh evidence, but a forecast is only an opinion and can be disputed later.
It also helps to show how long the most recent sales took to complete. Your own records will show the time from listing to sale agreed. A longer wait than last year is useful context for a seller deciding on an asking price.
Your duties on price advice
The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice requires any figure you give for an asking price or likely selling price to be given in good faith, to reflect current market conditions and to be supported by comparable evidence. Propertymark members are also bound by its own conduct rules. Keep a note of the sales you relied on.
Agents must not mislead consumers about price evidence. The duty sits under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which the CMA enforces. Trading standards withdrew its material information guidance on 8 May 2025, but the duty not to mislead remains in the Act.
If a seller asks you to market above your advice, confirm your recommended asking price and likely selling price in writing. Your market appraisal is your professional view. A formal valuation is a separate service from a RICS registered valuer.
Using House Price Monitor
House Price Monitor's professional plan costs £15 a month and covers up to five postcode districts. You get a monthly report for each postcode, with every sale and a written note of what moved the median, carrying your firm's logo, name, phone and website. It also includes valuation packs: enter an address and property type to get a branded PDF of the comparable sales. Your first report is free when you sign up.
Other guides
Using sold prices in a valuation appointment
Preparing a market appraisal from sold prices