A sales valuation gives you one concrete answer: what your home can realistically sell for within the next 3-6 months. It is a systematic analysis of where your particular home stands in relation to the current market, not a rough guess. It is the figure you can plan around when you are thinking of selling.
An estate agent’s valuation is typically within ±5-7% of the final sale price. That makes it the most accurate of the methods available to you. The uncertainty grows, however, in areas where homes change hands less often, because there are fewer comparable sales to go on.
Behind the figure lies an inspection that typically takes between half an hour and an hour. The agent notes the size and layout of the rooms, the natural light, the condition of the kitchen, bathrooms and floors, any signs of damp or cracks, and the state of the garden, terrace, balcony, garage and carport. It is this thoroughness that sets a valuation apart from a quick estimate.
The agent also picks up on the soft factors that no database knows about: how the light comes in, the room layout, the quality of the materials, the state of repair, the outdoor areas, noise, the neighbours and the overall feel of the home. They can easily account for 10-15% of the sale price, and they are precisely why an on-site valuation beats any automated calculation.
When should you get a sales valuation?
You do not need to wait until you are 100% ready to sell. If you are thinking of selling within the next six months to a year, an early valuation can help you plan. It may turn out that your home could fetch more if you paint the walls or get the garden in order before the viewings.
A valuation does not commit you to anything. You get a basis for your decision that you can use when you are ready, without the agent being able to demand a mandate to sell your home.
According to Realkreditforeningen (the association of Danish mortgage banks), homes should be valued at least every three years or whenever there are significant changes. There are also specific situations in life where getting your house valued before a sale, or before another decision, is the obvious step:
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You are about to remortgage, and the bank wants to know what your home is worth.
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You are in the middle of a divorce and the joint estate has to be settled.
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An inheritance has to be settled, and the home must be valued before it can be divided or sold.
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You simply want to know your equity and see how much financial leeway you actually have.
That is why it pays to get 2-3 local estate agent valuations before you decide. Ask each agent to explain which method they use and which comparable sales their figures are based on.
Sales valuation, public property valuation and the bank’s valuation
The term home valuation (boligvurdering) covers three very different things, and it is worth keeping them apart. The first is the valuation you order yourself from an estate agent to find out your realistic sale price. The second is the public property valuation you receive from the Danish Valuation Agency (Vurderingsstyrelsen). The third is the valuation the bank carries out when you take out a loan. Each rests on a different basis and answers a different question, so the figures can easily be far apart without anything being wrong.
| Sales valuation (estate agent’s valuation) | Official property valuation | Bank/mortgage lender valuation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To give the realistic sale price | To calculate property tax, not to reflect market value in real time | To assess the basis for lending |
| Underlying data | Inspection of the home combined with current comparable sales | Standardised BBR data (from the Danish building register) and sales data, an average across more than 1,7 million detached houses | The bank’s own internal valuation models, combined where relevant with an estate agent’s or surveyor’s valuation |
| Updates | Current, made at the time you order it | Typically every two years, and the underlying data can be 12-18 months old | On an ongoing basis, as part of the specific loan application |
| Condition and micro-location | Assessed individually | No assessment of condition; does not know the difference between a worn-out ’70s kitchen and a fully renovated home, and takes no account of micro-location such as a corner plot, a view or noise | Depends on whether an estate agent’s or a surveyor’s valuation is obtained |
| Accuracy relative to market value | Close to the actual sale price | Can be 10-25% below or above the real market value. In areas with rising prices it is on average 8-12% below the actual sale price, and in falling markets 5-15% above | Geared to the bank’s own risk, not necessarily the price you can achieve |
| Used for lending | No, but it is often used as an input | No, it is not used as a basis for lending | Yes, it is the very basis for it. For larger loans or unusual properties, the bank may require an independent surveyor’s valuation, which you pay for yourself |
The public property valuation is an average built on data that may be a year and a half old, and it knows nothing about your home’s condition or micro-location. The bank is asking something else: how safe is this as security for a loan? Only the sales valuation tries to answer what a buyer will pay for your particular home.
For you, this means that you cannot treat the public property valuation as the final word on what you can sell for. Differences of 15-25% between the public property valuation, the estate agent’s valuation and the actual sale price are completely normal. If you have to make a decision about selling, it is the sales valuation that gives you the figure you can plan around.
The best times of year to get a valuation and sell
Statistically, March to June is the strongest selling window for most types of home in Denmark, and weeks 24-26 are the absolute peak of the year. This is the period when the most buyers are active and when your home has the best chance of being seen by the right people. If you would like a valuation ready before then, you should contact an estate agent a couple of months beforehand.
When you plan to have your home valued and put up for sale, the timing depends on what type of home you have. The same patterns recur across the different types of home, so a table gives the quickest overview.
| Property type | Best selling window | Period to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Detached house | March–June, with September–October second best | November–January, and weeks 27–31 in the middle of the summer holidays |
| Owner-occupied flat | January–February and April–May | – |
| Holiday home | February–April, i.e. before the season starts | July–August, paradoxically the worst months |
One period recurs for every type of home: 15 November to 10 January is best avoided. This is when activity is at its lowest of the year, discounts off the asking price are at their highest and there are the fewest viewings.
The preparation plan
Once you have chosen your window, the order of things matters more than you might think. The condition report (tilstandsrapport) takes time, and it has to be in place before you can go live. Allow around 10 weeks and follow this plan:
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Order the condition report in weeks 3–4. The report usually takes 2–4 weeks to prepare and the energy label 1–2 weeks, so start here.
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Get the home ready in weeks 5–6: painting, gardening and the small repairs that make a better impression at viewings.
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Book a photographer in weeks 7–8.
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Document pack ready in week 9. All the paperwork now needs to be gathered so there are no delays.
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Go live in week 10. The home is ready for viewings just as the market starts to wake up.
Spring sales are typically 20–40% faster than winter sales, which is one reason the plan above is timed to hit the spring. Local conditions should always be taken into account when you plan your timing, though. In Aalborg, for example, the average time to sell was 126 days for detached and terraced houses and 124 days for owner-occupied flats.
Why the right price is crucial to your sale
The price is the decision that matters most to how your sale goes. If you set it too high from the start, the home often ends up selling for less than if the price had been right from the beginning.
The first two to three weeks after the home goes on the market are crucial. Buyers with a search alert get a notification, book viewings quickly and form a first impression. If the price is off at that point, the home drops out of their searches, and you lose exactly the audience that would have made an offer.
Studies point in the same direction. Homes priced correctly from the start sell faster, and typically for a higher final price, than homes that start too high and later have to be reduced. A price cut rarely comes alone. It signals to the market that something is wrong, and buyers start bidding below the new price because they can see the home has been on the market for a long time.
A home priced 5–10% above market value takes on average 60–90 days longer to sell. The discount off the asking price rises sharply the longer the home is on the market:
| Time on the market | Typical price reduction |
|---|---|
| 0-30 days | 0-2% |
| 30-90 days | 2-4% |
| 90-180 days | 4-6% |
| 180-365 days | 6-10% |
| over 365 days | 10-20% |
A home that sells within the first month might cost you 1% off the asking price. If it stays on the market for more than a year, however, the discount is 10–20%. That is the difference between getting the price right from the start and having to follow the market down.
The reason statistics cannot stand alone is that a municipality’s average price per square metre can hide neighbourhoods that are 30% apart. The figure is a benchmark, not an answer to what your home is worth. The same goes for comparable sales: if they are more than 6–12 months old, they should only be used with significant adjustments, because the market may have moved since. Statistics give you a benchmark, but a valuation gives you a figure.
Get a free, no-obligation valuation with Brikk
At Brikk, everything starts with a free sales valuation, where a local valuation specialist visits you at home. You choose the date and time online yourself, and you can use the valuation without it committing you to sell or to sign an agreement. If you later decide to go ahead, Brikk sells homes for a fixed fee from 22.500 kr., with no lock-in.
The fixed price covers everything from the first visit until the final signature:
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You get a photographer who takes sharp photos of your home.
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You get a floor plan, so buyers can see the layout and size of the rooms.
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Your home is advertised on the major property portals, where buyers are looking.
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You get a sales brochure that brings together the home’s details and presentation.
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A dedicated local agent stays with you from valuation to handover of the keys.
Brikk has sold 4.000+ homes across Denmark and more than 6 billion kr. worth of property for its customers. Some local pages also highlight “save up to 62.500 kr.” and “500+ homes sold”. Brikk Gruppen ApS (CVR 40218610) is a member of Dansk Ejendomsmæglerforening, the Danish estate agents’ association, and you manage the whole process online, around the clock. After each viewing, you can also follow buyers’ ratings directly on your phone, so you always know where interest in your home stands.
Book your free, no-obligation valuation online, have a local specialist come to your home, and get a concrete answer to what it is worth. You get a figure to plan around, without any obligation.
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