New research shows that UK estate agents are amongst the best value in the world.
Using data from the Global Property Guide and The Advisory - two property consultancies - comparison website GetAgent says only five countries out of 29 in the analysis come in lower than the UK for agency commission.
Those five were Singapore, the Netherlands, Ireland, Hong Kong and South Korea.
By contrast, Mexico and South Africa were the highest at no less than 7.5 per cent commission on the sale price of a home.
Australia also ranked high at 5.7 per cent with the US on 5.5 per cent.
GetAgent also looked at the average cost of selling the same sized property - an apartment - in a city centre across each of the 29 to see how the price of property impacted the absolute cost of agents.
With the higher price of property in this country, the average fee comes in at £2,935 pushing the UK up the table - but only to number 15.
The most expensive place to sell a home is Australia, where the average 5.7 per cent commission transforms into £10,866.
Hong Kong is £9,908, with France at £8,562 and Singapore on £8,230.
A further 10 nations also came in more expensive than the UK - Japan, Canada, New Zealand, the US, Germany, Israel, Spain, China, Italy and South Africa.
“UK agents have previously come under fire for charging high commission fees that many sellers felt were unjustified. But thank your lucky stars you’re not selling in Australia, Hong Kong or France” explains GetAgent founder Colby Short.
He says there appears to have been a change in seller sentiment towards agents and fees recently.
“This has undoubtedly been driven by the online, fixed-fee model and the poor customer experience that many have had with these DIY agents. Home sellers have now realised you really do get what you pay for and when it comes to the most expensive asset you’re ever likely to own, it’s not worth cutting costs.”
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This is really nothing to boast about, as an estate agent for 20 years we now charge less than what we did 15 years ago while prices for rightmove/zoopla etc have gone through the roof. Not to mention the extra burden with HMRC AML obligations and admin.
The online agents have driven down prices and we have to try and match as close to possible for us to survive and compete, charging higher percentages in big cities may still work but in the smaller downs etc.
We used to charge for our drone, virtual tour videos etc, now they come as standard just to give us a competitive edge.
After 20 years in the business I will be finished with estate agency within the next 12 months, I can earn more doing other things without all the hassle and responsibility that comes with estate agency.
Is why I got out of it - it is a thankless job for not enough reward
The main omission in the above article is transation numbers.
France and Australia have more expensive agent fees due to relatively low transaction numbers compared to the UK.
Simple economics!
Agents MUST differentiate to compete. Look at getting a client more involved in the process to help speed up transaction times and outsource the ID/AML headache, stop hanging on to things that waste your time. Get in touch and find out how we can support independent agents to make a massive difference. (No Jan Byers, it's not all about searches before you chip in LOL)
This is exactly why we launched The ESTAS back in 2003! My wife Sarah (also my business partner) worked for a local independent agent back then and it was a real eye opener for me.
I had no idea how difficult a job it was (and it’s a lot more difficult now!). The fact is a lot of agents provide excellent customer service for a very low fee. We do our bit to promote those agencies through our awards and review platform but I’d really like to see the industry associations taking the lead on this by delivering a national advertising campaign promoting the benefits of using local agents.
I do not think the general public give a flying whatsit about awards. I was with a company that won awards I cannot recall any vendor I ever met knowing anything at all abut them.
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