"Offers over" and "offers in excess of" name a floor the seller says they won't go under. "Offers in the region of" and "guide price" name a middle; offers below are expected. None is a valuation. Price the house from sold prices and its time on the market, then see where it sits against the label.
The listing says "Offers in excess of £325,000". The one next to it says "Guide price £340,000", and a third says "Offers in the region of £335,000". Three houses, three sets of words, and no clear sign of what any of the three sellers would take.
This guide covers what each label means in practice, why agents choose them, and how to decide your offer without letting the words decide it for you. It's written for England and Wales. In Scotland "offers over" is the normal way to price a home and the process works differently, so Scotland has its own section below.
The four labels, side by side
| Label | What the seller is saying | Offers below it? | Where to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offers over / offers in excess of (OIEO) | This is the least I'll take. Bid above it. | Rarely accepted while the listing is fresh | At the figure, unless the sold prices say it's too high |
| Offers in the region of (OIRO) | Around this number. I expect to negotiate. | Expected | Below the figure, where the sold prices put it |
| Guide price | Roughly this. I'm not sure, or I want interest. | Common | From the sold prices, not the guide |
| Asking price, no label | This is what I'd like. | Normal | From the sold prices; the gap depends on the evidence |
None of the four is a valuation, and none binds anyone. The figure is a marketing price that the agent and the seller chose together, and the words around it describe how the seller felt about that figure on the day the listing went live. What matters is what the house is worth on the evidence, and whether the seller's position has moved since.
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Why agents choose one label over another
- Portals search on the number. Price filters on the portals use the figure, not the words around it. "Offers over £300,000" shows up in every search capped at £300,000, so a home the seller hopes to sell for £320,000 is seen by buyers who stopped looking at £300,000.
- The seller doesn't know the value. A guide price, or "in the region of", leaves room when a home is unusual, has been empty for years, or is being sold by executors who have no view on the price.
- A low floor draws a crowd. "Offers over" set under the expected value brings several buyers to the door, then lets them bid against each other. In a strong market that works. In a slow one it often ends with the floor itself being tested.
- It softens a cut. A home that didn't sell at £350,000 can come back as "offers over £325,000" rather than show a plain reduction. Relisting is common: Zoopla's September 2026 index found that a quarter of homes newly listed in September had already been for sale this year, and six in ten of those came back at a lower asking price.
An agency defending its "offers in excess of" pricing to the Advertising Standards Authority in 2013 put it plainly: the figures were marketing prices, set alongside the seller's bottom line, not statements of market value. It also said that at the time about 88,000 of the 850,000 homes on a leading portal were priced that way.
"Offers over" and "offers in excess of": the floor that isn't always one
The two phrases mean the same thing. The seller is telling you they won't go below the figure and would like to see how far above it buyers will go.
The Advertising Standards Authority looked at this wording in the 2013 case above. It said buyers understand "offers in excess of" and "offers over" to mean the lowest price the seller will accept, and it told the agency to make sure its figures matched the lowest price in each seller's range. So on a well-run listing, the number is a real floor, at least on the day the listing goes up.
Three things change that:
- Time. A floor set in week one is a hope by week twelve. If the house has been on the market longer than its neighbours took to sell, the seller's "least I'd take" has usually moved, whatever the listing still says.
- Reductions. If the "offers over" figure has already come down, the floor isn't fixed. In the ASA case, one home came to market at "offers in excess of £385,000", was cut three times to £335,000, and sold for £356,000. Each cut followed a new conversation about the seller's bottom line.
- Evidence. If similar homes nearby sold for less than the floor, the floor sits above the market, and the words don't change that.
Can you offer below "offers over"? Yes. Nothing stops you, and the agent must pass every offer to the seller promptly and in writing unless the seller has said in writing that they don't want offers of that kind. The source is under "Where the rules stand" below. Expect a no on a fresh listing. On an older or reduced one, a below-floor offer with the sold prices attached is a normal opening, and the scripts further down give you the words.
What to offer. If the sold prices put the home at or above the floor, the label is doing its job and you're bidding on value: start at the floor or a little above it, and let the evidence, not the agent, set your ceiling. If the sold prices sit below the floor, open at the evidence with your reasons, and let the seller decide whether their floor was a price or a wish.
"Offers in the region of" (OIRO): a number to negotiate around
OIRO says the seller expects offers on either side of the figure and will negotiate. Of the four labels it's the most honest about what's going on: the number is a starting point, and everyone knows it.
Treat it as an asking price with the negotiation already admitted. An opening 5 to 10% below the figure is routine when the sold prices support it, and going above the figure only makes sense when another buyer is in play. How far below asking price can you offer covers how to size the gap from the evidence rather than from habit.
"Guide price": two different things
On an ordinary estate-agency listing, a guide price is a soft asking price. Agents use it when the seller isn't sure what the home will fetch, when they want to draw interest, or when the home is hard to compare with anything nearby. Sometimes it's a range. Offers below it are common and expected, and so are offers above it when a home proves popular. Price from the sold prices, not from the guide.
At auction the same words mean something stricter. There, the guide price is an indication of where the reserve will be set: the reserve is the lowest price the auctioneer is allowed to sell at on the day. Under advertising rules, if the guide is a range the reserve must sit inside it, and if the guide is a single figure the reserve can't be more than 10% above it. The guide tells you the minimum, not the sale price, and homes at auction often sell well above it. If you're bidding at auction, read the legal pack and have your finance in place before the day: the fall of the hammer is binding, unlike an offer through an estate agent.
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How to decide your offer, whatever the words say
The label tells you what the seller hoped for when the listing went up. Your offer should come from three things that don't change with the wording.
- What similar homes nearby actually sold for. Sold prices, adjusted for size, condition, and extras like a garden or parking. Asking prices on the portal tell you what other sellers hope for, not what buyers paid. This gives you a value range for the house.
- How the listing has behaved. How long it has been on, whether the price has been cut, whether it was taken off and relisted, and whether a sale has fallen through. Days on the market: why it matters explains what each of those does to the seller's position.
- What you can fund, and what a lender will lend. Your lender values the house, not the label. If the surveyor puts it below your offer, the gap is yours to fill. Your walk-away is the most the house is worth to you, set before you speak to the agent. How much should you offer on a house walks through the sums.
Then put the label against your range:
- Your range sits below the figure. Offer at your evidence, with the comparable sales and the listing history in the email, whatever the label says. You may be refused. If the house is still there in a month, yours is the offer they already have.
- Your range straddles the figure. On "offers over", start at the floor. On OIRO or a guide price, start toward the bottom of your range. Leave yourself room to move once.
- Your range sits above the figure. The label has done its job and brought buyers in. You're now bidding on value, perhaps against other people. Set your limit from your range, not from the other bidders, and if it turns into a sealed round, best and final offer covers it.
The market this autumn (October 2026)
Labels are set by sellers, and sellers are adjusting. Rightmove's October 2026 index put the average two-year fixed mortgage rate at 5.55%, up from 5.29% a month earlier. Sales being agreed are 8% lower than a year ago and buyer enquiries 9% lower, while the number of homes for sale is the highest for the time of year since 2014. In London, 38% of listings have been reduced and homes take 78 days on average to find a buyer.
For a buyer, that means more floors are being tested. An "offers over" figure on a listing from July is rarely the seller's position in October. Check the listing date and the price history before you treat the floor as real. No change to stamp duty is expected at the Budget on 28 October, so the Budget isn't a reason to wait; the rate your lender quotes on the day you apply matters more.
Scotland: "offers over" is the normal price, and the Home Report is the anchor
In Scotland most homes are marketed at "offers over" or at a fixed price, offers go in through your solicitor, and when several buyers note interest the seller sets a closing date for sealed offers. The number to work from isn't the "offers over" figure. It's the valuation in the seller's Home Report, which every seller has to provide. Lenders lend against that valuation, so anything you bid above it comes from your own money.
Agents often set the "offers over" figure below the Home Report value. Rettie, an Edinburgh agency, puts the gap at as much as 5 to 10% below the valuation, with most sellers looking for at least the valuation figure. ESPC's report for June to August 2026 showed homes across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders achieving 102.1% of their Home Report valuation on average, with houses in Edinburgh at 103.1%. So "offers over £250,000" with a Home Report at £270,000 is a listing priced to sell around £275,000, and the floor is a formality. Price from the valuation and the recent sales, and set your limit before the closing date.
What to say to the agent
Offering below an "offers over" figure, when the evidence supports it:
We'd like to offer [£ figure] for [address], subject to contract and survey. We know that's below the figure on the listing. It reflects the sales of [two or three similar homes nearby] at [£ range] this year, and the house has been on the market since [month]. [We have a mortgage agreed in principle and our deposit ready], and [we're chain-free]. Please pass it to the seller in writing and let us know their response.
When the agent says the seller won't look at anything under the figure:
Understood. Our offer is based on what similar homes have sold for, so it stands as it is. If the seller's position changes, we'd like to hear from you.
Asking what the label means before you offer, which is always worth doing:
Is the figure the seller's minimum, or a guide? Has the price changed since it was first listed, and how long has it been on the market?
The agent may not answer the first question directly. The other two have answers you can check against the portal's price history, and an agent who won't give them is telling you something too.
How Broc helps before you offer
Broc works it out for a specific address from the sold prices of similar homes nearby and, where it can match the listing, how long the house has been on the market and any price cuts, along with signals about the seller's position. With your answers about the house and your own position, the report sets your opening offer, target and walk-away, and writes the offer letter. Put in the listing's figure, whatever label it carries, and the report shows you whether the evidence sits above or below it.
If the agent says the seller won't go below the figure, log it in the report's deal room as a claim the agent made. It shows what the claim usually means and how to test it, and gives you the next move and a letter. You log what the agent said and you send the letter. Broc doesn't read your email or contact the agent.
Where the rules stand (position as of October 2026)
These rules apply in England and Wales unless the point says otherwise.
- None of the labels binds anyone. An offer isn't legally binding until contracts are exchanged, and a label doesn't oblige the seller to accept an offer at the figure either. (GOV.UK: making an offer)
- "Offers in excess of" should be the seller's real minimum. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled in November 2013 that buyers understand "offers in excess of" and "offers over" to mean the lowest price the seller will accept, and told an agency to ensure its figures matched the lowest price in the seller's range. (ASA ruling, Express Estate Agency Ltd, A13-226041)
- A price has to be shown. Under National Trading Standards' material-information guidance for property listings, the price is "Part A" information every listing must carry, which is why "price on application" has largely gone from the portals. (National Trading Standards: Part A guidance)
- The agent must pass on your offer, promptly and in writing, however far below the figure it is, unless the seller has said in writing that they don't want offers of that kind. (Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991, Schedule 3)
- At auction, the guide price is tied to the reserve. If the guide is a range, the reserve must fall within it; if it's a single figure, the reserve can't be more than 10% above it. (ASA: guide prices in ads for property auctions)
- In Scotland, offers go through a solicitor, sellers must provide a Home Report, and the seller may set a closing date when more than one buyer notes interest. (mygov.scot: making an offer)
General information, not legal or financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
What does "offers over" mean on a house?
The seller is saying the figure is the least they will accept and they want offers above it. It's a marketing price, not a valuation, and it tends to move once the listing has been on for a while or has been reduced.
Can you offer below "offers in excess of"?
Yes. Nothing stops you, and the agent must pass your offer to the seller in writing unless the seller has excluded offers of that kind in writing. Expect a refusal on a fresh listing. On an older or reduced one, a below-figure offer with sold-price evidence is a normal opening. The rules are under "Where the rules stand" above.
What does OIRO mean?
"Offers in the region of": the seller expects offers around the figure, below as well as above, and will negotiate. Treat it as an asking price with the negotiation already admitted.
Is a guide price the same as an asking price?
On an estate-agency listing it's a softer version of one, used when the seller is unsure or wants interest, and offers below it are common. At auction it's an indication of where the reserve will be set, and the reserve can't be more than 10% above a single-figure guide.
Why did the agent change the listing to "offers over" after a price cut?
Usually to show a lower figure in portal searches without labelling it a reduction, and to invite buyers to bid up from it. Check the portal's price history: a cut is a cut whatever the words.
Does the mortgage lender care whether it was "offers over" or "guide price"?
No. The lender's surveyor values the house. If that valuation comes in below your offer, you make up the difference, whatever label the listing carried.
How much over the Home Report should I offer in Scotland?
It depends on the area and the competition. ESPC's report for June to August 2026 put the average across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders at 102.1% of Home Report valuation. Lenders lend against the valuation, so anything above it comes from your own deposit.
Is an accepted offer below the "offers over" figure binding on the seller?
No. In England and Wales nothing is binding until contracts are exchanged, so either side can withdraw before then. Scotland's missives make the contract binding earlier.
Broc
Broc is the badger behind trybroc.io — "broc" is Old English for badger. Where the estate agent speaks in superlatives, Broc speaks in evidence — sold comparables, days on the market, seller-pressure signals — and turns them into a number you can defend.
