Guide price
A guide price is the figure an auctioneer publishes for a lot to indicate where bidding is expected to start. It is a marketing figure, not a valuation, and it is not the price at which the property will sell. Its relationship to the reserve price, the confidential minimum the seller will accept, is the only thing that matters about it: by common auction-house practice, and under the advertising rules on misleading prices, the reserve is set at or within a small margin above the guide, and the guide may be revised before the sale if the reserve changes.
How to read it
A guide price is set to draw bidders into the room. Lots that sell typically go for 10% to 30% above guide, and a property that sells at guide is usually one the room has doubts about. Treat the guide as the floor of the bidding, not the ceiling of the value, and set a maximum bid from your own analysis: the legal pack, a viewing, comparable sold prices and the rent the property will earn. August's property insights show the EPC rating, council tax band and an estimated value for any address in seconds, which is the five-minute check before a survey.
Guide price ranges
Some auctioneers publish a range, for example £150,000 to £160,000, or a "guide price plus" figure. Under a range, the reserve normally sits within the range; under a "plus" figure, the reserve is at or above the guide. If the guide changes in the days before the sale, the reserve has changed, and that is the auctioneer telling you where the seller stands. A pre-auction offer is usually pitched at or above the guide, see buying before auction.
Guide price is not below market value
A low guide is a device to fill the room; it does not mean the lot is a below-market-value purchase. The price the property sells for on the day is, by definition, its market value in that room.
From working with landlords who buy at auction, the commonest mistake is anchoring the maximum bid to the guide rather than to the numbers; the second is assuming a lot with a low guide has a low reserve. The process from catalogue to completion is in buying property at auction and the houses themselves in the best property auction houses for landlords.
Last reviewed: September 2026.
