The cost of using an estate agent has increased by almost a third in the past decade, research suggests.
Analysis by Post Office Money into the additional costs of moving home ranked agency fees as the largest outlay when moving.
Estate agency fees have increased 31% to £4,310 between 2006 and 2016, while surveying costs have soared 53% to £764 on average over the same period.
The removal of the Stamp Duty “slab” system – which saw all home owners charged at a percentage of the price paid for their property – resulted in the average Stamp Duty bill falling from £4,227 at the end of 2014 to £1,774 at the end of 2016, according to the report.
The data, compiled by the Centre for Business and Economics Research, calculated the estate agency fees using the infamous Which? figures from 2011 and an index for estate agent fees used in the more recent calculations for inflation by the Office for National Statistics.
Using the average house price of £213,681 that is cited in the research, this would suggest a pretty high average estate agent commission of 2%.
Overall, the costs of moving, which also includes Stamp Duty and removals, increased by 25% during the past decade to £9,472.
| Cost of Moving | 2006 | 2016 | % increase |
| Stamp Duty | £1,734 | £1,774 | 2% |
| Estate Agent | £3,279 | £4,310 | 31% |
| Surveyors | £498 | £764 | 53% |
| Conveyancing | £1,138 | £1,558 | 37% |
| Removals | £942 | £1,065 | 13% |
| TOTAL | £7, 590 | £9,472 | 25% |
Owen Woodley, managing director at Post Office Money, said: “Forecasts indicate the cost of buying and moving will only continue to rise over the next five years, even with the impact of revised Stamp Duty rules introduced to reduce the impact on prospective buyers’ wallets.
“With research indicating that 65% of these buyers have underestimated how much they should budget for these costs, careful and considered budgeting is essential at a time when they are already likely to be financially stretched.”
Another item that will be regarded as factual that uses already flawed, six years out of date guesstimate ‘research’.
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Agreed, if you are going to raise this kind of article then take the time and trouble to get up to date accurate research. Don’t do lazy reporting of old data.
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There is no way most conveyancers charge £1,558 for a purchase unless the extras (searches etc) are included. In which case it should say so. I doubt many charge £1,138.00!
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Do they mean surveys or mortgage valuations for “surveyors”? Or what mortgage lenders charge but don’t pass on to valuers. Because £764 for mortgage valuations are fees that dreams are made of.
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The effect of inflation from 2006 to 2016 is 32.8%.
So we’ve had an effective pay cut!
Whilst property prices in my area (the South Coast) have risen 47.7% over the same period.
Yay – clever going!
Inflation Stats from the Bank of England Website… http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/resources/inflationtools/calculator/default.aspx
Price rise stats from Land Registry
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