Should You Rely On Recently Sold Data?

So…

You have found your dream 3-bed flat in Chelsea…

It is on one of your favourite streets…

It has three perfectly sized bedrooms and even has that all important open plan kitchen/ living room and private garden…

Now…

How much should you offer?

You find some recently sold prices online and you think “Yes! This 3-bed property is clearly overpriced…”

However, the more that you look into the recently sold data, you realise that the 3-bed flat that you are comparing your dream 3-bed flat to has a different size, a different layout and is in, arguably, a less desirable part of Chelsea.

What do you do now?

A lot of people (wrongly, in my opinion) look at recently sold data in a ‘crystal clear’ sort of way…

“This 3-bedroom flat sold for £3,000,000 last month and therefore ‘THIS’ 3-bedroom flat that is on for £3,000,000 is clearly overpriced!”…

That could be the case…

Have you looked at:

The size?

The layout?

Outside space?

Private parking?

The length of the lease?

Is it share of freehold/ leasehold?

EVEN if all of these aspects are the same, if it is not on the same street, the price could be completely different.

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“A lot of people look at recently sold data in a ‘crystal clear’ sort of way.”

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In a lot of streets in Chelsea, as an example, prices vary hugely from one end of the street to the other and from one side of the street to the other.

Use the recently sold data as a guide - not a crystal clear fact.

Price is subjective and a property only ever sells for what the buyer is willing to pay for it (as long as the seller agrees with said price!)…

Have you looked at recently sold data and not been able to work out how much a 3-bed property is worth?