{"id":20168,"date":"2026-06-02T02:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=20168"},"modified":"2026-06-02T19:20:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T02:20:05","slug":"market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Value vs Appraised Value: Know the Difference for Your Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>People looking to sell their homes often encounter two terms that both try to convey the value of their house: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/fair-market-value\/\">market value<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/home-appraisal-process\/\">appraised value<\/a>. In real estate, these have distinct meanings, and it\u2019s helpful to understand the difference.<\/p>\n<p>When you decide that you want to sell your house, you might use a tool like HomeLight\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/home-value-estimator\">Home Value estimator<\/a> to get a ballpark idea of its market value and how much you could ask for it, or work with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-real-estate-agents\">top agent<\/a> to develop a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/house-pricing-strategies\/\">pricing strategy<\/a> for putting your home on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Want a Peek at Your Home's Value?<\/h3>\n                        <p>A great starting point is HomeLight&#8217;s Home Value Estimator. We\u2019ll pair your answers to a few questions with housing market data from multiple trusted sources for a real-world estimate in under two minutes.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/home-value-estimator\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Estimate<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>However, if a buyer\u2019s lender orders an appraisal of the property, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-often-do-home-appraisals-come-in-low\/\">appraised value is lower than the asking price<\/a>, the deal could fall through.<\/p>\n<p>So, what\u2019s the difference between market value vs. appraised value in real estate? Let\u2019s take a deeper dive into what each term means and how it affects the sales price.<\/p>\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"Where market value vs. appraised value plays a role\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>Market value vs. appraised value: Where they play a role in the transaction<\/h2>\n<p>To truly understand how these two figures interact, it helps to look at a typical home sale timeline. They don&#8217;t compete at the same time; instead, they act as a tag team throughout the transaction.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Phase 1:<\/strong> The journey begins entirely in the realm of market value. A seller looks at recent neighborhood trends to set a listing price. Buyers tour the home and submit offers based on what they perceive the home is worth in the current market. After some back-and-forth negotiation, the buyer and seller agree on a fair market purchase price and sign the contract.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Phase 2:<\/strong> Once the contract is signed, the market value is officially set for this specific transaction. The buyers submit this contract to their mortgage lender to finalize their loan.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Phase 3:<\/strong> Now, the lender steps in and orders the appraisal. The appraised value is a lagging indicator; it relies on finalized historical data to objectively verify the home&#8217;s worth. This number takes center stage during the final underwriting and closing process, ensuring the bank is making a safe investment before they officially fund the loan and hand over the keys.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"section--2\" data-toc-header=\"Understanding a home\u2019s market value\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>Understanding a home\u2019s market value<\/h2>\n<p>The market value of a home is the price buyers are willing to pay for a house, and varies over time depending on prevailing market conditions. It is not the listing price. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/agents\/michelle-queen-ga-281295\">Michelle Queen<\/a>, a top real estate agent in Cartersville, Georgia, with 22 years of experience, puts it bluntly:\u00a0 \u201cThe market value is what the home is <em>actually<\/em> worth.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Factors used to determine the market value of a home<\/h3>\n<h4>Comparable sales<\/h4>\n<p>Comparing sales prices is a big factor in determining a home\u2019s market value. Real estate agents do this by running a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/comparative-market-analysis\/\">comparative market analysis<\/a> (CMA). \u201cWhen I\u2019m running house values, I\u2019ll look at what\u2019s sold in the same subdivision or within a mile, and compare prices with properties that are similar to the client\u2019s property,\u201d says Queen, helping her make an educated determination of the home\u2019s market value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Different methods exist for putting a value on a home. Learn what market value vs appraised value means, and what each one is used for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":38814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[242,322,330],"tags":[734],"class_list":["post-20168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-appraisals","category-logistics","category-house-value","tag-what-is-a-comparative-market-analysis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Market Value vs Appraised Value in Real Estate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Different methods exist for putting a value on a home. Learn what market value vs appraised value means, and what each one is used for.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Market Value vs Appraised Value: Know the Difference for Your Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Different methods exist for putting a value on a home. Learn what market value vs appraised value means, and what each one is used for.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T09:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T02:20:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HomeLight-Featured-Image-8.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evette Zalvino\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ChampionEvette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Evette Zalvino\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Market Value vs Appraised Value in Real Estate","description":"Different methods exist for putting a value on a home. Learn what market value vs appraised value means, and what each one is used for.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Market Value vs Appraised Value: Know the Difference for Your Home","og_description":"Different methods exist for putting a value on a home. Learn what market value vs appraised value means, and what each one is used for.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/","og_site_name":"HomeLight Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","article_published_time":"2026-06-02T09:00:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-03T02:20:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":564,"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HomeLight-Featured-Image-8.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Evette Zalvino","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ChampionEvette","twitter_site":"@gohomelight","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Evette Zalvino","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/"},"author":{"name":"Evette Zalvino","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/24c138a15ae405c1f075829518d876d9"},"headline":"Market Value vs Appraised Value: Know the Difference for Your Home","datePublished":"2026-06-02T09:00:28+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-03T02:20:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/"},"wordCount":543,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HomeLight-Featured-Image-8.png","keywords":["what is a comparative market analysis?"],"articleSection":["Home Appraisals","Logistics","What's My Home Worth?"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/","name":"Market Value vs Appraised Value in Real Estate","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HomeLight-Featured-Image-8.png","datePublished":"2026-06-02T09:00:28+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-03T02:20:05+00:00","description":"Different methods exist for putting a value on a home. Learn what market value vs appraised value means, and what each one is used for.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HomeLight-Featured-Image-8.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/HomeLight-Featured-Image-8.png","width":1000,"height":564,"caption":"Source: (Jacques Bopp \/ Unsplash)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/market-value-vs-appraised-value-real-estate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Market Value vs Appraised Value: Know the Difference for Your Home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","name":"HomeLight Blog","description":"Real Estate Advice from America&#039;s Top Agents","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HomeLight","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/logo-hr-color.png","width":1348,"height":262,"caption":"HomeLight"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/","https:\/\/x.com\/gohomelight","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/homelight\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCimugR9XF17-OZ7B9fNnxWw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/HomeLight"],"description":"Everything you need to know to sell your house faster and for more money. Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/24c138a15ae405c1f075829518d876d9","name":"Evette Zalvino","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0df2f7f88735f96b80a1d47288360b21f84b5d5aab732850f55d7f1c928a93a8?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0df2f7f88735f96b80a1d47288360b21f84b5d5aab732850f55d7f1c928a93a8?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Evette Zalvino"},"description":"Evette is just your average HGTV fan who dreams of having a home worthy of being on one of those shows. When she isn't writing for HomeLight, she's working at her local real estate office. In her downtime, you'll find her searching for the next great hiking trail in her area.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/evettezalvino\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ChampionEvette"],"url":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/author\/evette-zalvino\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}