My estate agent asked for my lowest price. Should I tell them?

Your lowest price is the least you would accept for your home. Some people call it a floor or a walk-away figure. It is not the same as a valuation: a valuation is an estimate of what the market will pay, while your floor is a personal number shaped by your mortgage, your selling costs and what you need for your next home.

An agent asking for that figure is not a warning sign. It is one of the most common conversations in a sale. What matters is how much you share, and in what form.

Why does my estate agent want to know my lowest price?

A good agent asks so they can negotiate without wasting your time. Knowing roughly where you stand helps them judge which offers are worth pushing, which buyers to prioritise and when to come back to you quickly.

Your agent is instructed and paid by you, and their job is to secure a good price on good terms for you. Most agents take that seriously, because their reputation on your street depends on it.

Is it safe to tell my agent my lowest price?

Telling them is rarely a disaster, but the exact figure is worth keeping back. Once a number has been said, it tends to become the target. A buyer asks what the seller will take, the conversation drifts, and an offer arrives at precisely your floor rather than above it.

There is also a simple arithmetic point, and it says nothing about any individual agent's honesty. A lower price costs you the full difference, while it changes a percentage fee by very little. The HomeOwners Alliance puts the average high-street sole agency fee at 1.42% including VAT.

That gap is why the final number is worth keeping as yours. It is not a reason to distrust your agent. It is a reason to structure the conversation so a strong result for you does not rely on a figure you said once at the kitchen table.

What does the law say my agent must do with offers?

• Your agent must pass every offer to you promptly and in writing, under the Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991.
• The Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice says offers should keep being passed on until contracts are exchanged, unless you tell the agent in writing that you do not want to hear them.
• If the agent, or someone connected to them, wants to buy your home, they must tell you in writing, under section 21 of the Estate Agents Act 1979.

Those rules mean every offer reaches you whatever you have said about your floor. Keeping the number private costs you nothing, because you still see and decide every offer yourself.

What should I say to my agent instead?

1. 1. Work out your real floor privately

   Start from what you need to walk away with, then add your mortgage balance, any early repayment charge, the agent's fee and legal costs to see the lowest sale price that still works for you.

2. 2. Give your agent a target and your reasoning

   Say the price you are aiming for and the evidence behind it, such as recent sold prices on your street and the valuations you received, so the agent can argue your case to buyers.

3. 3. Put a confidentiality instruction in writing

   Email your agent asking them to pass on every offer and not to indicate to any buyer, directly or by hint, what price you would accept.

4. 4. Ask for the buyer's position with every offer

   Ask for each buyer's situation in writing: whether they have a home to sell, a mortgage agreed in principle, a solicitor instructed and a deposit ready.

5. 5. Decide each offer yourself, in writing

   Reply to each offer in writing so the decision is clearly yours, whether you accept, decline or make a counter-offer.

6. 6. Revisit your floor if the market moves

   Check your figure against fresh evidence every few weeks rather than fixing it for the whole sale, because the market around your home can shift.

What is normal, and what is a red flag?

None of the items in the right-hand column proves anything on its own. They are prompts to ask a clear question and to put your instructions in writing.

I have already told my agent my lowest price. What now?

Nothing is lost. Send a short email saying you would like that figure treated as confidential, that every offer should still come to you in writing, and that no buyer should be told or given a hint of what you would accept. Most agents will simply confirm it.

Does the current market change how I should handle this?

It makes a clear, private floor more useful. The RICS survey published on 10 September 2026 put its house price balance at -28%, meaning more surveyors reported agreed prices falling than rising. Rightmove reported on 17 August 2026 that average new asking prices fell 2.0% in a month to £364,999.

In a market where buyers negotiate, offers below asking are normal. A seller who already knows their floor can answer each one quickly and calmly, without being talked down in the moment.

Share your target and your evidence. Keep your floor. Every offer still has to reach you in writing, so the final decision stays exactly where it belongs.

ValuQ gives UK homeowners free, side-by-side property valuations from competing local estate agents, so the floor you set can rest on several written valuations rather than a single conversation.

Common questions about your lowest price