Why FreeMarket?

However you found FreeMarket, you may now be asking the obvious question: why would I use it? You’ve been curious enough to click through, so first — welcome.

Who FreeMarket is for

At heart, FreeMarket is a more affordable, DIY alternative to the status quo of property selling in the UK. We give people a way to circumvent estate agents and sell their homes themselves. Frankly, if you’re looking to sell a Canary Wharf skyscraper, this probably isn’t for you.

But for the vast majority of British homes — the semi in Falkirk, the terrace in Sheffield, the cottage in Powys — there’s no good reason the seller needs to hand over thousands of pounds to a middleman.

What you’d save

Selling on FreeMarket will likely mean more work than handing everything to an estate agent. The question you have to ask yourself is whether the hassle you’d avoid is worth around 2% of your home’s value.

That’s £5,000 to £8,000 on a £300,000 home once VAT is added.

And that’s before Stamp Duty on your next home, or Capital Gains Tax if this isn’t your main residence — costs you can’t avoid, unlike the estate agent’s cut.

Why we charge £20

You may also wonder why we charge anything at all. Fair question, even if our fee is minuscule compared to the alternatives.

The main reason is trust. A small paywall stops bots, scammers, and impulse listings — which means every property on FreeMarket is from someone who genuinely wants to sell. The £20 also covers our running costs, but the real value is what the paywall keeps out.

The bottom line

For very large or unusually complex properties, an estate agent is probably still the right choice. For everything else — the vast majority of British homes — there’s a simpler, cheaper way.

FreeMarket is that way.