Shock figures - UK agents earn less than most of Euro...

A new league table of earnings by estate agents, based on basic salary and commission combined, suggests that UK agents earn far below those in much of Western Europe, North America and the Far East.

The Nested agency has compared UK agent earnings with 29 other global locations.

The data shows that the best place to be an estate agent is Australia, home to not only the highest basic salary at a huge £48,670 but also the largest level of additional earnings at £7,271. This makes a combined income of £55,942 per year.

When it comes to their basic salary, UK estate agents earn an average of just £24,817 per year.

This places them 16th in the list, far behind Australia but also behind the US, Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Israel, the UAE, Japan, France, Singapore, Italy, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

When looking at the level of both basic and additional income combined, UK agents are well down the rankings.

The combined average earnings of £30,569 per year places them mid-table, again behind the likes of Australia, the US, New Zealand, UAE and France.

Nested’s head of commercial - Alice Bullard - says: “The UK is far from a global leader when it comes to estate agent earnings.

“The potential is there: it’s quite telling that the level of additional earnings found in the UK ranks within the top 10 in the world, but the basic salary provided sits far lower in the rankings.”

Nested has been heavily promoting its new business model in recent weeks. It formerly offered a 'guaranteed buy' of a vendor's property if it did not sell within a set period for a minimum price, but now the agency has changed direction and is promoting what chief executive Matt Robinson calls "our Modern Estate Agent offering”.

This involves a mix of traditional agents ‘in the field’ and the intensive use of technology; it has been tested in areas of London and is now going to roll out nationwide.

It plans to launch in 100 locations in the next 12 months and on its website it says it is not only a first class estate agency but also operates as a buying agency and chain specialist.

*Table shows the average base salary of an estate agent, the average additional income earned and the combined income of both*
Nation	Average annual estate agent base salary (£)	Average annual additional income (£)	Combined average annual income (£)
Australia	£48,670	£7,271	£55,942
United States	£46,580	£6,959	£53,539
Netherlands	£46,247	£6,910	£53,157
Canada	£44,942	£6,714	£51,656
Germany	£41,751	£6,238	£47,988
Hong Kong SAR	£40,701	£6,081	£46,781
New Zealand	£40,020	£5,979	£46,000
Israel	£38,995	£5,826	£44,821
United Arab Emirates	£38,553	£5,760	£44,313
Japan	£37,877	£5,659	£43,536
France	£36,992	£5,527	£42,519
Singapore	£36,818	£5,501	£42,319
Italy	£32,228	£4,815	£37,043
Spain	£27,961	£4,177	£32,138
United Kingdom	£24,817	£5,752	£30,569
Saudi Arabia	£25,074	£3,746	£28,821
South Korea	£23,368	£3,491	£26,860
Chile	£16,933	£2,530	£19,463
China	£16,613	£2,482	£19,095
South Africa	£13,790	£2,060	£15,850
Indonesia	£13,626	£2,036	£15,661
Brazil	£11,613	£1,735	£13,348
Morocco	£9,915	£1,481	£11,396
Mexico	£9,423	£1,408	£10,831
Russia	£8,307	£1,241	£9,548
Columbia	£6,802	£1,016	£7,818
Egypt	£6,626	£990	£7,616
Turkey	£6,272	£937	£7,208
Argentina	£6,046	£903	£6,949
India	£5,214	£779	£5,993
Basic salary and additional earnings sourced from Salary Expert and Indeed

James
18 November 2021 08:52 AM

Qualifications have nothing to do with fee earnings in our industry.

If that was the case there would be a demonstrable difference in fees charged between agencies with or without “qualifications”, which there isn’t… because market forces drive fee levels not meaningless qualifications.

All qualifications will do is cost you money, as is demonstrated clearly by the current market.

We don’t earn as much because we have no respect for the services we deliver and compete for market share with no regard for profitability. It is remarkable how many agents will sacrifice %age fee income for an instruction, indeed many are instructed by agency owners to get the instruction no matter the cost.

Madness.

We struggle and strive to provide more services for less money. Which means we dumb down the skills of our staff whilst we invest in prop tech to solve the issues created by an absence of experience.