Estate agent fees still exceeding £3,425 despite slower market conditions

 

The latest research from the For Sale Owner website OkayLah.co.uk has looked at the cost of selling a house across England, where the most properties are selling, the total value of properties sold and the total amount paid in fees.

OkayLah calculated the current average estate agent fee paid by home sellers across each region of the country by:

Multiplying the average house price by the number of transactions over a 12-month period to find the total value of property sold in the last year.

OkayLah then found the total amount of fees paid in that 12-month period by calculating the 1.42% average agent fee* for the total value of property sold.

Finally OkayLah divided the total fees paid by the number of transactions to find the average fee for each region.

  

By region..

The research shows that despite the London market suffering the most from price reductions as a result of Brexit uncertainty, the average estate agent fee is still as high as £6,804 with the English average almost half of this at £3,425.

However, with less transactions completing in the capital it is in fact the South East that has paid the highest amount in estate agent fees. With 142,007 properties sold the region is home to the highest total value at £45.8bn also equating to the highest in total fees paid at £651,055,062 – an average of £4,585 per property.

The North East is not only home to the most affordable average house price, but it has seen the lowest number of transactions in the last year, resulting in the lowest value of property sold (£4.9bn), the lowest in total fees paid (£70.7m) and the lowest average fee per property (£1,824).

Looking locally..

When looking at a more local level, the diversity of the national property market is clear.

With 40,654 transactions in the last 12 months, Greater Manchester is the UK’s home selling hotspot, shaking off the Brexit blues to enjoy the most buoyant market conditions. However, the much lower average house price of £165,146 means that the average fee per property is just £2,345.

With an average house price of £488,820, it’s Windsor and Maidenhead that tops the table with the highest estate agent fee at £6,941 per property, and no wonder with property costing more than the capital itself.

Surrey isn’t far behind with an average fee per property of £6,305 but as a result of higher transaction levels, the county is home to the highest total of fees paid at a whopping £107.9 million in the last 12 months. With £7.6 billion worth of property sold in the last year, Surrey is also England’s most valuable area where the property market is concerned.

Hartlepool is home to the lowest amount of total fees paid to estate agents at just £1.9 million in the last year, while County Durham is home to the lowest average fee at just £1,454.

 

Paul Telford, founder and CEO of OkayLah, commented:

“Slower market conditions and a drop in buyer demand has not only impacted the asking price of the nation’s sellers, but estate agents have also had to readjust their expectations due to dwindling stock levels and competition from fixed fee agents.

That said, this research demonstrates the vast amounts of money that some agents are still making due to the high cost of property in some areas of England, regardless of whether or not the buyer has taken the brunt of Brexit market uncertainty and lowered their asking price.

It also highlights that despite the doom and gloom of our current EU limbo, there are plenty of areas enjoying large numbers of property transactions, and the UK property market remains a very lucrative investment.

Our advice to those looking to sell would be to shop around, negotiate on fee, and consider alternative options such as for sale by owner platforms or other fixed fee models to maximise your property sale profits.”