Price per square metre: how to tell if a house is overpriced

Two homes on the same street can have the same number of bedrooms and very different amounts of space. Comparing on bedrooms alone is how buyers end up overpaying. Price per square metre levels the field.

How to work it out

Divide the asking price by the internal floor area. A home listed at £300,000 with 90 m² of floor space is £3,333 per m². You can find the floor area on the floor plan in the listing, or on the home's Energy Performance Certificate, which records the total floor area and is free to look up on the EPC register.

Then do the same for similar homes that have sold nearby recently. If the home you like is well above the local figure for its type, the asking price needs a reason: a new kitchen, a bigger plot, a better position. If there is no reason, you have evidence for a lower offer.

Where it can mislead

Price per square metre is a guide, not a verdict. Adjust for:

Getting it done for you

A Proptel report shows the asking price per m² against the median for similar homes for sale nearby, lists comparable homes, and turns it all into a suggested offer range with the working shown. It takes about 30 seconds and costs £9.99. Even a £1,000 reduction pays for it a hundred times over.