Agents’ fees now averaging just over 1% nationwide

| Rosalind Renshaw

An estate agency comparison website says that the average estate agent’s fee nationwide is 1.1%.

The site, netanagent, found the most expensive average fee was – perhaps not surprisingly – in Kensington, London, at 1.63%.

However, more surprisingly, the second highest average fee at 1.6% is charged in Walsall, while agents in some rural spots have relatively high fees.

Despite that, the survey found that Hexham in Northumberland, surrounded by some of England’s most glorious countryside, turns out to be the cheapest place for agents’ fees at 0.72%.

EYE queried the fees, partly because the central London figure must include the 2.5% supposedly still charged by agents such as Foxtons with market share.

The overall figure is also far below the often quoted average quoted by Which? of 1.8%. A number of online agents quote the 1.8% fee in order to justify their claims of the large sums that home sellers can save.

However, the netagent research ties in more with articles for us on the subject of fees, by Stephen Hayter.

We wondered if the averages included online agent charges.

However, we were told yesterday by netanagent – which measures high street, online and hybrid agents – that the averages are only of high street agents, using data between April 2015 and this April.

Netanagent managing director Alex Thorpe, said: “No one will be surprised to hear that London is the most expensive area to sell, but they may raise an eyebrow at two remote spots in Wales and Scotland hitting the top ten.

“The costs are easily explained, though, and this is something that estate agents often struggle to get across – remote locations can mean a huge geographical area to cover, with increased overheads, and a genuine lack of buyers. All of this can equate to a larger workload for an agent, justifying a slightly higher fee.

“Equally, in London, selling property isn’t just about listing a property on Rightmove and sitting back; we’re talking about vast sums of money, requiring agents to stay closely involved at all points, and delivering the sort of high-end service you expect to pay for.”

To put the fee difference into perspective, a UK property priced at £307,033 will cost £2,210 to sell in Hexham, Northumberland, whereas, in Kensington, that same property sale – if possible at that price – would command an agent fee of £5,004.

Thorpe said: “Whilst even the lowest fee may seem expensive to some home owners, when selling a property the work that goes on behind the scenes is a lot more extensive than agents often talk about, especially post offer.

“Agents are the ‘go-between’ in one of the most stressful processes we go through in life and they often become the main point of contact for a vendor, offering advice, support and hopefully peace of mind right up until completion.|

10 most expensive areas for estate agent fees (%)

  1. Kensington – 1.63%
  2. Walsall North – 1.60%
  3. Cities of London and Westminster – 1.58%
  4. Preseli Pembrokeshire – 1.56%
  5. Chelsea and Fulham – 1.54%
  6. Putney – 1.5%
  7. Hammersmith – 1.5%
  8. Banff and Buchan, Scotland – 1.5%
  9. Holborn and St Pancras – 1.5%
  10. Ynys Môn (Anglesey), Wales – 1.5%

10 cheapest areas for estate agent fees (%)

  1. Hexham – 0.72%
  2. Newcastle upon Tyne North – 0.80%
  3. Cannock Chase – 0.82%
  4. East Renfrewshire – 0.84%
  5. East Dunbartonshire – 0.86%
  6. Shrewsbury and Atcham – 0.86%
  7. Glasgow North – 0.87%
  8. Glasgow Central – 0.87%
  9. Glasgow South – 0.88%
  10. South Derbyshire – 0.88%

netanagent.com

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15 Comments

  1. Chri Wood
    May 17, 2016 at 06:57

    Once you factor in unsold properties and the no-sale-no-fee factor of traditional agents, the claims of money saving fees of call-centre / online agents are now fully blown. A well balanced and written piece of research and would be interesting to compare with Stephen Hayters data.

     

    ….Has anyone told Which et al, to update their figures yet? Rosalind?

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    1. Property Pundit
      May 17, 2016 at 08:09

      Or told YOPA with that incessant, annoying radio advert where a fictitious agent says their standard fee is 2% + VAT. Dream on.

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      1. Clarkuk
        May 17, 2016 at 11:50

        on their TV  advert YOPA quote fees from Which? magazine 2011 that’s how current they are. I didn’t even think they were trading when that particular magazine came out.

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  2. Robert May
    May 17, 2016 at 07:44

    Where did the numbers come from?

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    1. Beano
      May 17, 2016 at 09:41

      If im not mistaken this is a product that allows agents to tout for business, presumably by being as competitive as possible. This in itself means those fees dont reflect the true market in that town, leaving out the additional factor that market leaders in any town will often charge more and not be on a site such as ‘netanagent’.

      Still a useful bit of data to counter some of the absurd claims about agent fees and a chance for the haters to see just what damage the portals are doing by creating a race to the bottom allowing listers to compete with genuine agency.

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  3. Property Paddy
    May 17, 2016 at 08:31

    A: Charge what you are worth.

    B: Charges should reflect your market and it’s competition.

    C: On line selling will be over soon enough…………!

    D: I’m more worried about what’s coming next

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    1. surrey1
      May 17, 2016 at 10:09

      I’m quite interested in what’s coming next. Something in my waters tells me we’re soon to see a downturn in the market and all of a sudden sellers wake up to the fact that selling a house isn’t like falling off a log. Weak agents and onliners will die a death and fees will improve. At the moment it seems to be silly season in a race to the bottom, including some well known high profile brands, not just low rent one man bands.

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      1. Property Paddy
        May 17, 2016 at 13:14

        What’s coming next is phone app based. Agents will still have a role but I suspect it will be less offering stock to market (which is all on liners can actually do) to a more search/select/advise/manage role.

        The phone app will do the offering to market

        It’s on it’s way.

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        1. Trevor Mealham
          May 17, 2016 at 13:28

          There’s more to agency than Apps and the ‘tinternet’ – surrey1 is on about sales skills, rather than listing from order taking I feel.

          The tech side is important, but equally are skills to facilitate sellers more and to negotiate best deals

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  4. greg
    May 17, 2016 at 08:48

    I trust these all include VAT!

     

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  5. Mark Connelly
    May 17, 2016 at 10:55

    To put the fee difference into perspective, a UK property priced at £307,033 will cost £2,210 to sell in Hexham, Northumberland, whereas, in Kensington, that same property sale – if possible at that price – would command an agent fee of £5,004.

    You would need that fee income to fund the difference in office costs.

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  6. Trevor Mealham
    May 17, 2016 at 11:26

    What’s the problem with agents getting their fees up.

    Its very easy to pitch much higher and increase the odds of winning a listing.

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  7. Robert May
    May 17, 2016 at 12:25

    “We wondered if the averages included online agent charges”  It  looks like the average includes fees charged by FSBO listers and passive intermediaries without any qualification or caveat of  the different levels of service.  Valuation is relegated to something they all do.  The impression is that all the agents are local; the one we have chosen to value a property that is being considered for sale hasn’t responded to our request for a valuation made  2 hours ago.

     

     

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  8. PeeBee
    May 17, 2016 at 16:13

    ’10 most expensive areas for estate agent fees (%)

    Kensington – 1.63%
    Walsall North – 1.60%’

    Oh my good grief.

    Yet more unadulterated b0110cks from another bunch of numpties who use those percentages or statistics that best suit the purpose to make entirely the wrong point – but think they’re brilliant.

    Bit like –

    10% of the distance to the Moon: 10% of the distance to the Sun.  Same, innit?

    When will eejits like these learn that comparing percentages means NOTHING.

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    1. Woodentop
      May 17, 2016 at 23:34

      Have to agree PB. I can poor scorn on many of those area’s stats. Average based on like for like number of agents in every location for a start? e.g. all in same town XY agent 2% and XZ agent 1.5% and XW agent at £1.00% = answers on a postage stamp but at least one agent is ripping off, if they do less than XW!

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