Agency fees makeup 81% of selling costs but is 'money...

Agency fees account for 81% of upfront home selling costs on average, research suggests.

Industry comparison website GetAgent has used its My Property Tracker too to calculate the varying cost of selling a property across the country.

Currently across Britain, the average seller will spend £5,413 to sell their home, with agency fees making up £4,400 of this.

This is based on an average property value of £290,785 and typical agency fees of 1.52%.

Conveyancing makes up a further 14%, typically costing the seller £776, with disbursements and Energy Performance Certificate costs accounting for the remaining 4%

With a current average house price of £527,979, London home sellers need to budget for the biggest outlay when selling, at £11,479, according to the research.

It also costs more to sell in higher priced regions outside the capital, like the South East, at £7,100. The region correspondingly has the second highest house price of £391,400.

In the North East selling costs come to around £3,300, with the region being the cheapest, with a typical house price of £161,000.

Colby Short, chief executive of GetAgent, said: “Despite wider economic instability the housing market has stood strong in recent months, with only a marginal decline in house prices to date. This means that as a seller you’ll hopefully end up with a healthy profit when you do come to sell, but you still need to budget for the cost required to transact which is currently over £5,000 on average.

“Typically the higher the house price the higher the costs will be, as most costs incurred are based on a percentage of your selling price and so you’ll need to come up with over £10,000 in London.

“While the biggest outlay is the fee paid to your estate agent, it’s money well spent, particularly in the current market where finding a legitimate buyer and making it through to completion has become all the harder.

When dealing with such an expensive asset, it makes perfect sense to get the best professional help possible and we’ve seen how opting for a low, fixed-fee agent can backfire when it comes to price achieved and the quality of service provided.

“Similarly when exchanging contracts if you use a quality conveyancer it can be the difference between securing a pain-free sale and being stressed out for months, so it’s not something to skimp out on.”