95% of Estate Agents Now Admit Their Rivals Are Overvaluing Homes to Win Your Listing

This isn't a one-off gripe. Two-thirds of the agents surveyed said the practice has become more common over the past twelve months, and 89% said they had personally lost a potential instruction in the past year because a rival agent promised the seller a higher price than they believed the property could actually achieve.

Why an agent would deliberately overvalue your home

It isn't complicated. An agent doesn't get paid until your home sells, and they don't get the chance to sell it unless you pick them over the other three or four agents who came round and gave you a number. Every agent in that room knows the seller is going to lean towards whoever said the biggest figure — so the incentive is to say a big figure, get the instruction, and deal with the consequences of a too-high asking price later.

The surveyed agents were candid about where the pressure comes from: a third pointed to sellers themselves favouring whichever agent quoted highest, alongside growing competition between agencies for a shrinking pool of instructions, pressure to grow market share, and internal targets pushing negotiators to win the listing at any cost.

What happens after you sign up on an inflated valuation

This is the part agents rarely walk you through at the valuation appointment. A home listed above what the market will actually bear doesn't sell at that price — it sits. Viewings slow down. Portal algorithms on Rightmove and Zoopla start showing your listing less prominently the longer it goes unsold. Eventually the agent comes back suggesting a price reduction, sometimes more than one, and you end up selling for less than a realistic valuation would have achieved in the first place.

95% of the agents surveyed admitted this outright: overvaluing a property to win the instruction can end up damaging the seller's actual outcome, not improving it.

What you should actually be judging an agent on

According to the same survey, agents themselves say sellers should be looking at three measurable things instead of the headline number:

• The percentage of asking price they typically achieve — a track record number, not a promise, and the single measure most agents said mattered most.
• Their record of selling similar properties in your specific local area — not just "properties like yours" in general terms.
• The average time it actually takes them to get a sale over the line — because a big valuation that takes eight months to achieve is not a win.

Ask any agent quoting you a number for evidence against all three before you sign anything. A genuine, evidence-led agent will have the figures ready. One relying on the size of the number to win you over usually won't.

The alternative most sellers never properly compare

None of this changes if you need to sell quickly, or if you've already been burned by a listing that didn't move at the price you were promised. A cash sale removes the guessing game entirely — there is no headline valuation designed to win your instruction, no months of viewings and price reductions, and no chain to collapse if a buyer further down the line changes their mind. You get one number, from one buyer, and a completion date you can actually plan around.

That won't be the right route for every seller. But if speed, certainty or a straightforward process matter more to you than chasing the biggest number on a valuation form, it's worth comparing both routes properly before you commit to either.