Estate agents earning up to 9.5% more per sale due to housing market boom

Research by the estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has found that despite the rate of commission charged by estate agents remaining largely unchanged over the last year, a house price boom has seen some earn as much as 9.5% more per sale.

GetAgent keeps a comprehensive record of the commission fees charged by estate agents across Britain and their latest data shows that the average agent fee charged is currently 1.48% inclusive of VAT.

Despite the property market rebounding at an astounding rate since lockdown restrictions were eased, estate agents are actually charging marginally less now than they were a year ago when the average commission fee was 1.5%.

A year ago this 1.5% equated to a fee of £3,591, however, since then house prices have climbed across Britain, meaning the current fee of 1.48% equates to £3,755 in today’s market - a 4.6% uplift.

Agents in the North East have seen the biggest increase in earnings, with the average fee now £2,146 having increased by 9.5% from £1,960 in the last year. In Wales, the average take-home fee has increased by 7.5%, with the East of England (6.1%) and East Midlands (5.1%) also seeing an increase of more than five per cent.

The East of England has seen the biggest uplift in terms of the actual increase per transaction. A year ago, the average agent made £4,410 per transaction on average. Today this has increased to £4,678, an increase of £268 per property sold.

The London market has struggled to keep pace with the rest where the current house price boom is concerned and this is reflected in the average earnings on London estate agents. A year ago, the average London agent charged 1.74% and took home £8,401 per property. Today this average fee has climbed by just 1.8% to £8,555 per transaction. The lowest increase of all regions although it remains the highest monetary fee by far.

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:

“The property market is currently booming and it’s fair to say that it could have been a very different story if it wasn’t for the nation’s estate agents who have put in a tremendous shift pretty much since the start of the pandemic. Not only have they had to negotiate lockdown restrictions and social distancing requirements, but they were also some of the first back in the trenches and since then they’ve had to service an overwhelming level of buyer demand.

It’s also pretty commendable that despite the market going from strength to strength, agents haven’t tried to take advantage of this heightened activity by increasing the commission charged. Of course, they have seen a slight uplift in their take-home pay due to an increase in property values, but I think many will agree this is fully deserved.”