A house hunter was so stunned by the price of a 'not very nice' flat that he created a game where players can guess the 'ridiculous' prices of properties across the UK in the 'shocking' housing market.
Fraser Hamilton had been trying to buy his first property in Edinburgh last year with his girlfriend, when they were shocked by the 'insane' prices of certain properties, such as a 'not that nice' two-bed flat that went for around £400,000.
The 24-year-old software developer wanted to try and get a better feel for the 'chaotic' market, and after realising many others his age were interested too, he decided to make the game.
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Released last week on February 20, the game allows the player to select a UK city before showing images of the property as pictured on Rightmove, followed by a box where the player can input their guess of how much it recently sold for.
The game, propertyguessr.fun, shows the same property to all players so that friends and family can all make a guess on the same houses, before it resets every day at midnight to show new properties.
Fraser posted the game online and it has already amassed 316,000 page views and 35,000 visitors, due to what he believes is a sense of 'morbid curiosity' at how 'bad' the market is in certain areas.
Fraser, from Edinburgh, said: "My girlfriend and I were looking at properties to purchase for our first home in Edinburgh. [We] saw a two bed flat in Edinburgh town, and it was around £400,000, which is pretty insane for a two bed flat.
"It's not like it was even a nice flat, to be honest, it was just the location was very central. Edinburgh's getting pretty chaotic I think and it was seeing properties like that which made me want to make this game.
"I wanted to make something where I could better understand what the prices of the properties were other than just looking on Zoopla. That's where it started.
"[The game] shows you the most recent property in an area which has sold and lets the player guess how much it went for. I intended to just make it for myself to get an idea about what property prices were like in my area but it's shifted now to a game where people can get an idea of property prices across the UK.
"I think people like it as it shows how their money might look if they lived in a different location or a location they'd previously stayed at. It seems insane that you could be in the same country but in a slightly different location and have such a huge difference in what you can get for your money.
"I think in some areas house prices have gotten a bit ridiculous. There's a general belief that they have, and certainly in Edinburgh right now, they're pretty crazy. They went crazy over the pandemic really.
"There's definitely areas where there's more affordable properties and maybe this has highlighted that a bit, that there's areas you could move to and get more."
Fraser's game, originally started as a part-time hobby, refreshes every evening so that all players see the same properties in the same area.
Fraser said: "[The game] shows the same properties in each area for all users so that people can send it to their friends and family and everyone can try to guess the price of the same property. Every night at 12 it refreshes. It looks at the latest sold prices of properties on Rightmove and pulls one from there for each location and then people can play and try to guess how much those properties sold for.
"I'd noticed that when we [me and my girlfriend] mentioned we were looking at places to people they quite often had an idea [about the market] as well. It seemed to be a topic that a lot of people were engaged with, so I thought why not try and make something of it.
"I didn't expect this kind of response, I think it got 33,000 visitors in just three days. There were a few times I wondered why I was spending time on it, but people are interested in it, so…
"I think there's an element of fun to it and also a lot of people want to see how bad the situation is in the UK right now, so that definitely plays into it too. Maybe a morbid curiosity - people want to see how bad it is, as some areas are pretty shocking.
"I kind of thought people would just play their own location, but I think from looking at the data, a lot of people have been playing multiple locations. I had a few thoughts making it like 'nobody's going to care about this' but it seems to have gone quite well.
"I'm quite proud it's had this much engagement, I didn't expect it but I'm glad people are keeping an eye on the price of homes."
Fraser posted the game to an online forum captioned: "To show how crazy the property market has gotten, I built this game where you can guess the price of recently sold homes across the UK!"
One person commented: "I feel like I'm too young to play this game, I assume every house is at least £250,000 until proven otherwise."
Another said: "That Sheffield place was a lot cheaper than I was expecting. Everywhere else… Wow. I guessed less than half the price of the Wakefield property. Who the hell is paying that much to live in Wakey?!"
A final said: "That's quite good fun, thank you."
You can learn more about the game here.
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