House prices rather than high commissions push up age...

Vendors are now paying up to 21% more in estate agency fees than five years ago but it’s not because agents are putting up their charges.

Quick sale firm Open Property Group has analysed the change in average estate agency fees in the UK and its regions between 2019 - 2024 to reveal how the cost of selling a home has changed over the past five years.

The data reveals that back in 2019, the UK’s average house price was £230,612. Meanwhile, the average estate agency fee was 1.53%. As such, the cost of agency fees in 2019 was an estimated £3,528.

Fast forward to today and the average UK house price now stands at £280,311. Over those five years, the average estate agency fee has fallen to 1.42%, but due to the increase in house prices, the pounds-and-pence cost of the fee has actually risen to hit £3,980. This is a five-year increase to the seller of 12.8%, or £452.

However, due to vast regional variations in average house price, there are some parts of the UK in which sellers have seen the cost of agency fees increase significantly more.

In the North West, the average house price has increased from £164,419 in 2019 to £214,592. As such, the average fee has increased from £2,516 to £3,047, This is equivalent to a cost increase of 21.1% for sellers.

Hefty cost increases have also occurred in Northern Ireland where fees are up 20% on 2019 levels, followed by Wales (19.4%), Yorkshire & Humber (16.3%), the East Midlands (15.6%), Scotland (14.8%), West Midlands (14.9%), South West (14.4%), and North East (14%).

Meanwhile, London is the only place where the cost of agency fees has fallen, having dropped by 0.5% over the five-year period.

Jason Harris-Cohen, chief executive of the Open Property Group, said: “A lot of people don’t realise how much it costs to sell a home.

“Agency fees, which amount to thousands of pounds, are just one of many outgoings that sellers endure, and the longer your property sits on the market waiting for a buyer, the more the costs go up. This is because you’re having to pay mortgage costs, insurance bills, utilities, and so on while you remain the owner of the property.”

Harris-Cohen, perhaps unsurprisingly, suggests sellers should consider a quick sale firm as a recovering market means house prices could rise further, putting fees up more.