Property market insiders have issued a new warning to home sellers about the growing problem of overvaluations, where estate agents inflate asking prices to secure business. This issue is particularly acute in London, according to experts.
Overvaluations on the rise
Shaun Sturgess, director of Swansea-based Sturgess Mortgage Solutions, said: "Overvaluations are undermining the UK property market and they're on the rise. They're one of the most damaging and underreported problems in the UK property market. As a mortgage broker, the fallout lands on my desk daily."
He explained that every overvalued instruction sets a transaction up to fail: "A buyer invests emotionally and financially, solicitors are instructed, surveys commissioned, then the lender's independent valuation arrives and tells the truth the agent wouldn't. Deals collapse and real people bear real costs."
Sturgess noted that for some agents, this is a deliberate strategy: "Win the instruction with a flattering number, lock in the sole agency agreement and manage expectations later. What compounds this further is agents pressuring buyers to pay for searches before a mortgage offer even exists. When a qualified valuer subsequently down-values the property and the deal collapses, those costs are simply lost. No refund. No accountability."
Expensive compliment
Evren Ergin, founder of property valuation platform ValuQ, described overvaluations as "the most expensive compliment a homeowner will ever receive." He said: "The flattering figure wins the instruction, then costs the seller months of silence and a string of price cuts. Having spent years in the estate agency sector, the problem is not bad agents but a broken incentive: the industry rewards winning the listing, so an honest agent who values a home accurately can lose it to a bigger number. That punishes good agents as much as it punishes sellers."
Ergin suggested a fix: "The fix is comparison, not blame. It's important to put valuations from competing local agents side by side, each backed by sold-price evidence, and the honest number then becomes the winning number."
More common in a slow market
Martin Rayner, financial adviser at Compton Financial Services, said overvaluations become more common when the market slows. He said: "Estate agents are competing for fewer instructions and sellers naturally gravitate towards the highest figure. There is a long-standing industry perception that some agents win business with optimistic valuations before expectations are brought back down to reality."
Rayner recounted a recent case: "I spoke to a client selling a property worth around £1.6m-£1.7m. One agent suggested £2m based on a supposedly similar sale. When checked, the property was not genuinely comparable. He wisely obtained three valuations before deciding on a realistic price. Overvaluations waste everyone's time. Sellers miss opportunities, buyers become sceptical and transactions can fall apart when surveyors arrive at a very different figure."
Messy market
Nouran Moustafa, practice principal and IFA at Roxton Wealth, said overvaluations make the property market feel messy. She said: "A seller is given a fantasy number, starts mentally spending it and then the mortgage valuation brings everyone back to earth. I do think it is becoming more visible in 2026 because the market is more price-sensitive. Buyers are stretched, lenders are cautious and surveyors need evidence. You cannot just price a house based on vibes and hope affordability catches up."
Moustafa added: "The damage is real. Overvaluations waste weeks, collapse chains, create down-valuations and force renegotiations after everyone has already paid for searches, surveys and legal work. People fall for them because the highest valuation feels like the best agent. It is not. Sometimes it is just the best sales pitch. The fix is boring but powerful: use sold comparables, not dreams."
Overvaluations 'rife in London'
Thomas Boughton, founder of London-based Artillium Real Estate Finance, warned that overvaluations are widespread across the capital. He said: "Sellers are often given unrealistic expectations about what their property is worth, while buyers can face frustrating down-valuations at the mortgage stage. Some agents continue to overvalue properties to win instructions, only for sellers to be encouraged into a series of price reductions when interest fails to materialise."
Boughton advised sellers to obtain an independent valuation before bringing their property to market. He said: "An objective assessment can help set realistic expectations and avoid disappointment later in the process. When homeowners make onward purchase decisions based on inflated valuations, it can create pressure throughout the chain. Down-valuations can lead to renegotiations, delays and even collapsed transactions."
Simon Bridgland, broker at Canterbury-based Charwin Private Clients, argued that introducing regulation and proper qualifications could offer a solution. He said: "Estate agents don't need to be as qualified as a surveyor, but they could be a market-driven surveyor."
