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Read Full Bio >Genuine UK “we buy any house” companies pay roughly 75% to 85% of market value in 2026; most funded buyers cluster at 75%–85%. On a £250,000 home that is about £187,500 to £212,500, completed in 7–28 days with no fees.
Key takeaways
- The realistic 2026 range is 75%–85% of market value. Well-presented houses in liquid postcodes reach 80%–85%; short-lease flats, non-standard construction and heavy-refurb properties sit at 70%–78%.
- On a £250,000 property the cash discount is worth roughly £37,500 to £75,000. That is the whole of the company’s margin — a genuine buyer charges no commission, no valuation fee and pays your legal costs.
- Compare net proceeds, not headline price. An estate agent sale at £250,000 nets around £243,500 after a 1.5% + VAT fee — but takes 16–24 weeks, and about one in four agreed UK sales collapses before completion.
- The number that matters is the one you are paid at completion, not the one you are quoted. In England and Wales an offer is not legally binding until exchange of contracts, so a headline figure can be cut at any point before then.
- Neither the National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) nor The Property Ombudsman (TPO) is a regulator — but TPO does give you free independent redress, and membership of both is still the best available filter.
How much do “we buy any house” companies pay in 2026?
Most pay between 75% and 85% of open-market value. That band has been stable across the UK quick-sale sector for several years, and the funded buyers who actually complete on their own balance sheet — rather than trying to flip your contract to a third party — tend to sit in the narrower 75%–85% part of it.
The percentage is not arbitrary. It is the buyer’s entire income from the transaction: the resale margin, the holding costs while the property sits on its books, refurbishment, your legal fees, stamp duty on the purchase and the risk that the market moves against it. Where your property lands inside the band depends almost entirely on how quickly and how predictably the company expects to sell it on.
| Property profile | Typical offer (% of market value) | On a £250,000 home |
|---|---|---|
| Modern, saleable house in a high-demand postcode | 80% – 85% | £200,000 – £212,500 |
| Average family home needing cosmetic work | 75% – 82% | £187,500 – £205,000 |
| Leasehold flat, oversupplied area or slow local market | 72% – 78% | £180,000 – £195,000 |
| Heavy refurbishment, structural issues or legal complexity | 70% – 75% | £175,000 – £187,500 |
| Unmortgageable, short lease (<80 yrs) or knotweed present | 65% – 72%, or declined | £162,500 – £180,000 |
These are sector-wide ranges, not a promise from any one firm. Any individual property can land outside them — and a buyer who quotes 90%+ before seeing a survey is almost always going to revise that figure later. We cover the arithmetic behind the discount in more depth in our guide to how much below market value cash buyers offer.
How is the offer worked out?
A cash buyer starts from an assessed market value — not your asking price — and works down. The assessment normally uses HM Land Registry sold-price data for comparable homes rather than what similar properties are currently listed at, because listings are aspirations and sold prices are facts.
From that figure the buyer deducts, in roughly this order:
- Refurbishment — costed at trade rates plus a contingency. A full re-roof or a new heating system can take £15,000–£50,000 straight off.
- Holding costs — council tax, insurance, security and finance for however many months the property is expected to sit unsold.
- Transaction costs on both sides — the buyer’s stamp duty (including the higher additional-property rate), its own legal fees, and yours.
- Resale risk — the wider the likely resale window, the deeper the discount. This is why liquidity matters more than condition for many properties.
- Margin — what is left is the company’s profit. On a genuine purchase this is typically the equivalent of 8%–15% of value, not the 30% that headline “70%” figures imply once costs are stripped out.
What does that actually leave you with?
Comparing a cash offer against an asking price is the wrong comparison. The honest comparison is net proceeds against net proceeds, adjusted for time and risk. Here is the same £250,000 property down both routes.
| Line item | Cash buyer at 82% | Estate agent at full asking price |
|---|---|---|
| Sale price | £205,000 | £250,000 |
| Agent fee (1.5% + VAT) | £0 | −£4,500 |
| Conveyancing | £0 (buyer pays) | −£1,200 |
| EPC, listing and marketing | £0 | −£150 |
| 4–5 months of mortgage, council tax and bills while you wait | £0 | −£4,000 to −£7,000 |
| Net in your account | £205,000 | £237,350 – £240,350 |
| Time to completion | 7–28 days | 16–24 weeks |
| Chance the sale collapses | Near zero | Around 1 in 4 |
So the real gap on this example is roughly £32,000–£35,000, not the £45,000 the headline discount suggests — and the agent figure assumes you achieve the full asking price first time, which most sellers do not. Whether that gap is worth paying is a personal calculation, but it is a much closer call than “they only pay 82%” makes it sound.
Why the offer you are quoted is often not the price you are paid
This is the single most important thing to understand about what these companies pay. In England and Wales an offer is not legally binding until contracts are exchanged, so the figure agreed on day one can be reduced at any point before that — and in the worst part of this sector, it routinely is.
The mechanism is straightforward. Sellers usually approach two or three companies at once, so each has an incentive to lead with an unusually high number to win the instruction. Weeks later, once you have handed in notice, booked removals or committed to an onward purchase, the survey comes back and the offer is cut. Home Selling Expert has documented cases including a Leeds seller whose offer fell from £204,000 to £161,000, and a £35,000 reduction delivered a week before the moving date. Because you are then choosing between a worse price and starting again from zero, the tactic works.
How to protect the number you are quoted
- Get the survey done at the start, within days of accepting in principle — not weeks later. A buyer who delays the survey is keeping its options open at your expense.
- Ask, in writing, how often the company revises its offer after survey. A confident buyer will answer with a figure. Also ask whether it will back the offer with a written guarantee.
- Never sign an “option agreement” or “purchase agreement.” The only contract you should sign is the contract of sale your solicitor sends near the end. Anything earlier usually means the company intends to find a buyer, not be one.
- Request proof of funds through your solicitor before you commit. A funded buyer can produce it in a day.
- Push to exchange as early as possible and do not pack up until you have. Exchange is the moment the price is locked.
The TPO Code of Practice states that “the offer price should not be reduced late in the process without a valid reason and these reasons should be fully explained to the client in writing.” That is a meaningful standard — but note the wording. Both TPO and the NAPB are explicit that they are not regulators, so accreditation is a filter, not a guarantee. Our guide to “we buy any house” scams and red flags covers the rest of the warning signs.
Which companies pay the most?
In practice the spread between genuine, funded buyers is narrow — a few percentage points — because they are all pricing the same resale risk with similar cost bases. The apparent outliers usually fall into one of three groups:
- Lead generators that quote high, take your details and sell them to third-party buyers. They have no capital and no intention of completing.
- Option-agreement firms that tie you into an exclusivity contract, then market the property to investors. You get the cash-buyer price with the estate-agent timeline.
- Assisted-sale and “modern method of auction” models, where the headline figure is conditional on a buyer being found. These are legitimate routes, but they are not cash purchases and should not be compared as if they were.
If one quote is dramatically higher than the others, treat it as a warning rather than a win. Ask what the offer is contingent on, who the ultimate buyer is, and whether the figure survives a survey.
What does Springbok pay?
Springbok Properties is a Manchester-based national seller, regulated for redress by The Property Ombudsman and a member of the NAPB, with the offer set against Land Registry comparables rather than an asking price. There are two routes, and they pay differently by design:
| Fast cash sale | Fixed-price / open-market sale | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical proceeds | Discounted to market value, in line with the ranges above | Full market value |
| Timescale | 7–28 days | Standard sale timeline |
| Fees to you | None | None |
| Legal costs | Covered | Covered on qualifying sales |
| Best when | A deadline, a chain collapse, repossession or probate | Price matters more than the date |
If you want the mechanics of the process rather than the numbers, see how “we buy any house” works, the full We Buy Any House guide, and our breakdown of whether these companies charge fees. For the wider trade-off, compare a cash buyer against an estate agent and auction.
Frequently asked questions
Do “we buy any house” companies ever pay full market value?
No. A genuine cash buyer cannot pay 100% of market value and still cover stamp duty, legal costs on both sides, holding costs and resale risk. Any company promising full market value for a fast cash purchase is either running an assisted-sale model or intends to reduce the figure later.
What percentage is a fair offer?
For a saleable house in a reasonable postcode, 80%–85% of Land Registry-based market value is a fair 2026 offer. For a leasehold flat, a refurbishment project or a slow local market, 72%–78% is normal. Below 70% is only justifiable where the property is genuinely hard to resell.
Can I negotiate a cash buyer’s offer?
Sometimes, but less than with a private buyer, because the figure is calculated rather than emotional. The strongest levers are evidence — recent comparable sold prices, a clean survey, or flexibility on your completion date, which reduces the buyer’s cost and can lift the offer by a percentage point or two.
Do I pay anything out of the offer?
With a genuine buyer, no. There should be no valuation fee, no admin fee and no commission, and the company should pay your conveyancing costs. Its entire return comes from the discount. If a company deducts fees from the offer as well, you are paying for the discount twice.
How quickly do they actually pay?
Completion typically takes 7 to 28 days from an accepted offer, and funds reach your solicitor on the completion date, who redeems any mortgage and transfers the balance to you the same day. Conveyancing, not the buyer’s money, sets the pace.
Is a lower cash offer worth taking?
It depends on what the delay costs you. Once you account for agent fees, several months of mortgage and bills, and the roughly one-in-four chance an agent sale collapses, the real gap on a £250,000 home is often £30,000–£35,000 rather than the headline discount. If you are facing a deadline, that gap buys certainty.
