Commercial feature

The last few years have seen some volatile activity in house prices. Just four years ago house prices were at the highest levels they’d been in years. Then came the credit crunch and prices across the country began to fall.

Even properties in London, long considered immune from any house prices dips, took a tumble. Since the economic recovery began prices have started creeping up again. However, it is still difficult to spot any solid trends. House price monitors are reporting different results every month.

While these figures may prove interesting for economists and financial journalists, those people wanting to buy or sell a property want a little more security. Buying a property is the single biggest purchase a person is likely to make and making sure you pay the right price is crucial.

Local house price information is a vital tool when buying or selling a property. It can help both buyers and sellers decide on the best step forward and ensure they do not lose out when it comes to money.

Since the credit crunch hit prices may have dropped but mortgage finance has tightened considerably. Lenders are not willing to lend to anywhere near the levels that they used to.

Those people wanting to buy a property have to come up with quite a hefty deposit. Since the deposit is a percentage of the house value it is important that they get a good deal on the property.

Local estate agents will have information on house prices in the area. They will be able to advise you of what prices properties in the area have been selling for. Details of sold house prices can help to give you a clearer picture of what you can expect to pay for a property or what your property can fetch.

For buyers, having an idea of what other properties sold for can help them to make an informed bid for a house. With average house price information showing volatile results, local information on sold house prices is the best bet for potential buyers.

Similarly, for sellers sold house price information can help them to set a fair and reasonable price for their property.

Sold house price information does what it says on the tin. Rather than detailing what prices houses are valued at, ie what they should sell at, it details what prices they actually sold for. In this uncertain market this is key.

Properties have not lost their value but what buyers are willing to pay for them has changed. This means it is important to study trends of sold house prices in order to estimate what a fair and typical price for the property is.

Sold house price information can be obtained from the Land Registry. Your local council may also be of some use.

It is important to study sold house prices over a period of several months given the volatility in the market. Studying details over one or two months may not be too helpful given how quickly the economy and consumer confidence can change.

Checking sold house prices will give you a far better picture of the value of properties in your chosen area than you can get by just looking at the asking prices.