Can I Sell My House for 100% Market Value?

Let’s face it—you’re not alone as a homeowner if you’re looking to sell as quickly as possible for as close to the market value as possible. Wouldn’t it be great if every house sale was as straightforward as that?

Unfortunately, competition is high and pockets are deep in 2025, so it’s a tough and often laboured affair, but there are options for those who want to sell fast with minimum stress.

In this guide, we’ll aim to answer the most common questions from sellers like you and try to help you make a decision on your house so you can move on with your life.

Table of Contents

• What exactly is market value?

• How do you calculate 100% market value?

• Is it realistic to sell a house fast at market value?

• What kinds of factors affect how much I might get for my house?

• Expert insight: What does the market look like in 2025?

• Can you get full market value for your house?

• Is selling fast to a cash buyer right for you?

• Why choose The Property Buying Company to sell your house?

What exactly is market value?

The term ‘market value’ represents the estimated monetary worth of a property based on housing market conditions at any given time. It can, of course, rise and fall depending on a range of factors—put simply, when there are more buyers than sellers, market values tend to increase, and when there are more sellers than buyers, they tend to drop accordingly because there’s more competition.

Market value changes from region to region and year to year (and, indeed, month to month), so it’s certainly variable at the best of times. No two professional valuers are the same, so differing opinions on the same property are common—not to mention that sellers tend to have their own figures in mind, too.

The truth is that there isn’t a universal way to measure market value, so these differences of opinion can be a source of frustration during the selling process. Homeowners don’t want to sell for less than they think a house is worth, so they can put off potential buyers and, in turn, resort to ‘sell house fast’ services that claim to be able to offer 100% of the market value in cash. Your general rule of thumb for buying or selling anything applies here: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, so don’t rush into a quick sale without knowing the terms and conditions inside out. Be sure to tread carefully and choose wisely—any company offering 100% is highly likely to knock you down at a later date once you’re committed to the sale.

Bonus tip: Be wary of the wording of some ‘quick sale’ services—saying “we’ll pay 100% cash” is NOT the same as “we’ll pay 100% of the market value in cash”

It takes an understanding of how it works to know what a genuinely fair price for your house might be, so we’re here to help you do your research.

How do you calculate 100% market value?

Gone are the days of inviting a few estate agents to your house and relying solely on their opinions to work out the market value of your house. Now, you’ve got years’ worth of data at your fingertips to get a more accurate valuation than ever. 

You can do as much research as you like on sites like Rightmove and Zoopla and use their online valuation tools to get some estimates. You can also dive into the government’s official House Price Index to get a region-by-region breakdown and more to help guide you.

Remember, it’s not an exact science, so try to use as many sources as possible and consider a range of factors to help you work out the market value of your home. You can use this helpful checklist as a starting point:

The most important thing to remember is that market value is so changeable, so try to keep on top of your research so you don’t miss any recent sales or fluctuations in buying or selling habits. This will help you keep a real-world expectation of what you’ll be able to get for your house.

Is it realistic to sell a house fast at market value?

It’s nigh on impossible to give a conclusive answer to this question because the landscape is so changeable at best and volatile at worst. Labour’s Autumn Budget in 2024 left homeowners stressed and first-time buyers struggling to find favourable mortgage rates, so, more than ever, patience became the name of the game.

The housing market is in a strange place right now—houses might be worth more, but they are taking much longer to sell, which makes a quick completion feel more like a long shot than a sure shot.

Throw ‘full market value’ into the mix and it becomes even more unlikely, especially if you go down the estate agent route. Selling your house on the open market might be your best bet for getting its market value, but all sorts can go wrong at any point, from buyers pulling out to agencies not pulling their weight.

Our CEO and co-founder, Karl McArdle, urges a healthy dose of realism when it comes to valuations:

You can see the shift over time in how long it’s taken the average UK seller to find a buyer in this 2025 chart from Rightmove’s House Price Index

The market had shapeshifted a little by 2024. Homes sold for an average of 47% more than their original asking price, according to the Financial Reporter, while Zoopla also reported that 96.8% of properties achieved their asking price, which was the highest proportion in the 18 months prior.

“Despite these gains, selling is currently taking a little longer on average. Homes now take around 35 days to go under offer, and the whole process, from listing to completion, averages about 185 days.

“It shows that while the market is strong, buyers are being a bit more cautious these days.”

• Karl McArdle, CEO, The Property Buying Company

With this trepidation in mind, it’s broadly unrealistic to expect a quick sale at full market value in 2025, so sellers might be better off considering other options if time is of the essence.

What kinds of factors affect how much I might get for my house?

If we were to list everything that impacts house values, we’d be here forever, but there are some common causes of the fluctuations you’ll be aware of (if not used to) by now.

How you sell your house

Naturally, the type of sale you choose for your house can have a huge impact on how much you get for it. 

You might well achieve 100% of the market value if you sell via an estate agent, but the whole process can take longer than it takes the earth to go around the sun—not to mention the commission and fees you’ll be bound to pay for the privilege.

If you sell via an auction like many people chose to do in 2024, you might get 100% of your property’s market value or, in some cases, even more if the bidding gets competitive. The sales process can take a few weeks or months, depending on the nature of the company, the property and the buyer, but it can be worthwhile if you’re lucky.

If you sell via a service like ours at The Property Buying Company, you’ll get a percentage of the market value, but it’ll be in cash and there’ll be no waiting around—sales complete in seven days in some cases, which has been a huge benefit to many of our customers across the UK.

How the government changes its policies

With changing governments and, indeed, changing policies comes a changing housing market. As we touched upon earlier, the Autumn Budget in 2024 brought significant changes to stamp duty, for instance—Labour increased the surcharge on additional properties from 3% to 5%, taking aim at speculative investments and second-home purchases.

The stamp duty rules that came into force in April 2025 also affected those homeowners who were selling and moving into a new home. The value threshold on which no stamp duty was due was halved from £250,000 to £125,000, which meant that such buyers faced the prospect of another £2,500 in moving costs on average if they hadn’t moved by March 31st 2025, according to an analysis from Rightmove.

Experts at Rightmove predicted that such a policy change would cause a surge in buyers trying to avoid the additional charges, which would, in theory, push up house prices and speed up sales. It looks like that was the case at the start of the year, so it’s clear how much of an impact government policies can have on buying and selling trends.

How supply and demand fluctuates

The gap between supply and demand was recently at its widest since the summer of 2023, as per a March 2025 housing market update from Savills. More new builds are being reported, while fewer enquiries are being made by buyers, according to the latest RICS survey, so the growth of market values may slow down as a result.

Supply and demand are changing all the time, especially when you consider government pledges like Labour’s delivery of 1.5 million new homes over five years and the ever-evolving cost-of-living crisis, so it’s worth bearing in mind that your home’s market value might change from week to week, too.

The location (and condition) of your property

Obvious factors like where your house is and, indeed, how much work it needs have an impact on its market value. Government statistics from November 2024 show that properties in the North West, for instance, had an average price of £226,627 and an annual change of 5.7% in their value, while properties in the South West grew at a slower rate of 2.2%, but had an average value of £317,608.

Overall, house prices in the UK rounded out 2024 at an average of 4.7% higher than they were at the beginning of the year, according to data from Nationwide reported by the BBC. That pattern of stronger growth in the north of England was also replicated in the findings, so it’s worth checking a few sources to get a feel for the market value you might expect based on the goings-on around the country.

Expert insight: What does the market look like in 2025?

“The stamp duty changes are a cloud over the market, with some groups more impacted than others. A further Bank Rate cut and some mortgage rate falls could help to settle the market.”

• Tim Bannister, Head of Property Science at Rightmove

Fast forward to March 2025 and, according to Halifax data reported by Forbes, house prices are still on the rise to the tune of 2.8% year-on-year, but fell month-on-month by 0.5% in March. This monthly drop is being attributed to the end of the stamp duty holiday that came into effect in April 2025, which suggests falling demand from buyers unwilling to pay the extra tax. 

Mortgage rates are still high, too, which has been an ever-present challenge for homeowners over the past few years, so it’s not uncommon for cautious buyers to look for ways to save and sellers to look for ways to complete quicker to avoid their market value dropping too low.

The Property Buying Company’s other co-founder & CEO, Jonathan Christie, explains why this could affect the housing market this year: 

“If they are able, it’s becoming increasingly appealing for buyers to pay in cash as a way to keep their costs down, so we expect some telling movements in the market in 2025. 

“They don’t have repayments or interest rates to contend with and they can speed the whole sales process up, which, of course, turns the heads of sellers who want to complete as quickly as possible, too.”

In London alone, cash sales increased from 41% of transactions in 2022 to 66% between January and July 2024. Such offers often come in below the asking price, which means achieving 100% market value is unlikely, but with increasing activity comes increasing competition—sellers can expect more offers from cash buyers in 2025 as they look to avoid the complications of an unpredictable market in terms of both cost and time.

Can you get full market value for your house?

If you’re a seller, you might be able to get full market value if you list your home on the open market—indeed, it might be your best chance to get 100%—but, as with any type of sale, there are pros and cons to doing so. It’s important to weigh these up before making a call on how you want to sell your house.

Selling your house via the open market:

One increasingly popular alternative is to sell your house to a cash buyer instead of putting it on the open market. This also comes with a range of pros and cons.

Selling your house to a cash buyer:

We get it—there’s a lot to consider when it comes to selling your home and we understand you want to get as close as possible to its market value. That’s why it’s crucial to do your research into sales trends, such as speed of sales and final sale house prices in your area, before you decide how to sell.

Is selling fast to a cash buyer right for you?

How you sell your house depends on your unique set of circumstances. You might be willing to wait it out to find the right buyer on the open market or you might be more inclined to get the sale over and done with—the decision is yours and yours only. 

The most important thing to remember is not to be duped into a ‘quick sale’ to a cash buyer who won’t take the time to understand your needs. A lot of cash buyers will try to take advantage of the time pressures some sellers are under, so don’t rush into any decision of this nature and be sure to scrutinise the wording and read the small print before committing to anything.

Selling to a cash buyer like The Property Buying Company has turned out to be the right option for a lot of homeowners across the UK, but it doesn’t always come down to an urgent situation like divorce, inheritance, financial difficulty or relocation. Many sellers like those in our customer stories have simply found that the speed of the sale made more sense than waiting months to find the right buyer and complete via another route (we’ve all heard the tales of seller’s stress and nightmare chains, haven’t we?).

Why choose The Property Buying Company to sell your house?

We understand there are many (too many) options out there when it comes to selling your house and sometimes you just want the fastest and easiest solution. Here’s how we can offer to make your house sale quick, painless and, most importantly, rewarding:

✔ We can complete in as little as 7 days (before an estate agent will have even listed the property)

✔ We are cash buyers, so there’s no need for delays or investor approvals

✔ We don’t do mountains of paperwork and we don’t believe in waiting around

✔ We are members of The Property Ombudsman and the National Association of Property Buyers, so we act with integrity

✔ We cover your fees, including solicitors, if you choose to use ours

If you’re looking for a fast, stress-free way to sell your house, The Property Buying Company is here to make it happen. Let us take the hassle out of selling, so you can focus on what’s next.