The best thing you can do is look at other properties around your own, conducting research into how much they sold for. Recent sales for a property based nearby your own will help you start to evaluate your home.

Of course, two properties in the same area can and regularly are sold for varying prices, which is why you should consider the property types, number of bedrooms, recent home improvements and more. Properties face depreciation daily, and home sellers can begin their journey by looking outward to their neighbours.

Several websites give you access to detailed information about individual properties around you, allowing you to read specific data previously only attainable by mortgage lenders and estate agents. The land registry and registers of Scotland are the first providers of such information: so you can trust the valuations and data.

Even sites such as Rightmove and Zoopla let you see recent sales by location. All you must do is simply enter the postcode or area you're looking for, and you can view houses sold throughout your neighbourhood for free. You can also filter by property type, meaning you can look explicitly at flats or houses. 

The housing market fluctuates, and properties are regularly transferred between hands. The UK House Price Index provides average prices for house sales by each country and region: all of which can be found on public records by the Land Registry. 

While using an appointed representative to scan through the many pages may help ease the workload, you can discover a great deal about your neighbourhood statistics and help evaluate your property's current value by using such price trend sites. 

Furthermore, you can utilise the Government's local area reports to determine how marital status, religion and other factors affect house price trends. These do have a part to play in the neighbourhood and success of buying and selling. 

Many websites have tools to estimate and calculate your property's value, and using them is recommended as a first step. However, you should only use such sites and companies as an estimation and conduct further research yourself.

Utilising the land registry and a professional survey will give you a more accurate representation: but using websites like Zoopla, Mouseprice, and Property Price Advice can help you find a range of quotes using previous sale prices, asking prices, market climate and property characteristics

 Remember, these are ballpark figures and don't always take into consideration renovations and other factors. Determining what you can trust is tricky, but always consider getting a visit from a professional consultant or surveyor. 

Understanding how your home's value has changed over time will affect the price now. There are many online tools designed to estimate how the property has changed in price since you bought it, even if you don't know a recent sale price.

Since you bought it, nearby schools may have increased or decreased in number, the road traffic noise may have increased, or anti-social behaviour on your street has been reported multiple times. Such factors have a negative impact on the price of your home, so you should do your research before panic selling.

Of course, other things like broadband coverage, crime rate, nearby health care and how much next door sold for all impact the asking price. Fitness fans can use online gym searchers to find local sports centres and gyms, ensuring the location is ideal for many people.

Taking time to see how the neighbouring properties are faring and how the local area has changed since you bought the property will help you understand the housing market a little more. 

As you can hopefully realise, many things affect the price point of a house or flat, with the flood risk being one of the most important to monitor. Flooding has a significant impact on insurance premiums and the success and health of a property. Online tools show you the Government's flood risk maps, with detailed reports on areas of vulnerability.

These are crucial to future buyers, so if you're looking to sell or buy, make sure to check such sites beforehand. Don't forget to consider recorded crimes in the area too, and if your home is at risk of both: consider doing something to make it appear more protected. This can save you money in the long run and boost house price estimates. 

The housing market is similar to the stock market, with highs and lows to be expected. While the cost of every house has specific circumstances to increase or decrease value, the housing market has been rising by over 10% over the last year.

While this sounds good, first-time buyers are having a hard time getting their foot onto the property ladder, with financial times calling for more renters and rental properties.

However, many sites have been designed to monitor the housing market for a crash. The future of the UK housing market isn't 100% sure for anyone: and a crash will happen. Using sites like HousePriceCrash.co.uk, you can monitor statistics from the Land Registry, Financial Times and other sources to determine when the housing prices will be at their lowest. 

The best thing you can do to find out how the market is currently is to look for the asking prices of nearby properties. Using Rightmove, Zoopla and Onthemarket (alongside other sites), you can discover the range of asking prices for flats and houses in your local area.

Combining this information with the sales knowledge you've accumulated from previous steps, you can see how different the asking price and the sales price are.

After all, the asking price is the top cost the seller wants, not what they'll necessarily get. Different mortgage schemes are available for support, with information on shared ownership, help to buy and more: which can help you understand the market from the buyer's point of view and the true value of your home.