The pre-market
The market before the market.
open for offer is the pre-market: owners can test the market and buyers can register interest in a home, whether or not it’s for sale.
See if any buyer registers interest- You can take your home off at any time, and it comes off our pages straight away
- No asking price, so no price reduction on the record
- Every number backed by Land Registry sold prices
- No board, and no viewings unless you arrange them: you decide what happens next
Not for sale is not the same as not available.
About 2% of homes in England and Wales are for sale at any one time. The pre-market is what happens before a home joins them.
An owner finds out whether any buyer registers interest. Buyers can register interest in any home, listed or not, and nothing has to happen next.
Two ways
Testing the market, or on it.
| Compared on | Testing the market | On the market |
|---|---|---|
| Buyers see | The address, and that the owner would consider offers | Address, photographs, asking price |
| Neighbours see | No board | A board |
| Offers arrive | In the queue | Through an agent |
| If you stop | It comes off our pages | A public record |
To a buyer it is open for offer: an area, a property type, never the door.
For owners
Test the market in about three minutes.
- 01
See what your home is worth
Enter your postcode. Your market estimate is built from your home’s own last recorded Land Registry sale, indexed to today’s market.
It arrives as a full range with a confidence level and the date it was generated, never a single number on its own.
- 02
Switch it on
Your home becomes open for offer: it is listed publicly, with its address. There is no board.
Once live
- 03
Run it from one dashboard
Your range and its confidence level. The figure that would tempt you, changed whenever you like. How long the test runs. Buyer interest as it lands. One switch turns it off, immediately.
- 04
Watch, then decide
Offers appear in the queue on your home’s page. Nothing obliges you to answer one. You can take your home off at any time, and it comes off our pages straight away.
For buyers
The home you want may never be advertised.
About 14 million homes in England and Wales have a page on open for offer, and can receive an offer whether or not they are for sale.
See the queue
Every offer is an anonymised entry: amount, timing, buyer position. You know what you are competing with.
Offer in minutes
One page, no account needed to start. Identity checks happen only when a sale actually proceeds.
What the pre-market is
- What does pre-market mean in UK property?
- A home whose owner is open to offers but has not put it up for sale. There is no asking price and no board. On open for offer, an owner who tests the market lists the home publicly as open for offer, with its address, and buyers can register interest.
- Is pre-market the same as off-market?
- Off-market homes are part of the pre-market — the market that exists before a property is ever advertised. Off-market usually means an agent’s private contacts; the pre-market here is open to every buyer.
How the pre-market works
- How do I put my home on the pre-market?
- Test the market. Find your home by postcode, see your market estimate, and switch it on. It takes about three minutes, and your address, name and photographs are never shown.
- How do I buy a pre-market home?
- Search on open for offer. Homes testing the market appear alongside listed ones, marked open for offer. Check the queue to see what has been offered, then make yours.
- Does the pre-market cost anything?
- Browsing, searching and getting a market estimate cost nothing. Testing the market is part of the seller subscription, and you see the price before anything goes live.
UK housing market data for homeowners: read the guides.