Think UK estate agent commission is high? You could be paying £13.7k in the EU

March 28, 2019

Research by leading estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, has looked at the cost of selling your home when enlisting a professional and how this compares to the rest of the EU.

Despite much being made domestically about the high commission fees charged by high street agents, in particular, the current average fee of 1.2% excluding VAT is actually the most palatable of all EU member states, with UK home sellers getting the best deal when selling their home.

In fact, Denmark and Ireland are the only other EU nations to see the cost of selling a home via an estate agent come in below 2%.

At the other end of the scale, home sellers in Romania are paying an eye watering 6% commission.

To put that into perspective, a 6% fee on the current average UK house price of £228,147 would result in a commission payment of almost £14,000!

In Malta, France and Cyrpus the commission fee still hits 5% and these nations, along with Italy, Slovakia and Germany would all also see commission exceed £10,000 on the current average UK house price.

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

“I think it’s fair to say that estate agents in the UK have a tough time of it when it comes to justifying their fees, with the predominant opinion being that they charge to much for the service provided.  

This really isn’t the case and as this research shows, the UK is actually home to the lowest estate agent fees in the EU and therefore you could argue, the best service as well.  

Now, of course, the price of property means there is a degree of relativity and while we are famous for our sky-high property prices, the 6% commission you might pay in Romania will be a lot lower due to the lower cost of getting on the ladder.

However,  this can also be said for the earning potential available and while we aren’t comparing apples for apples in a monetary sense, we wanted to highlight that actually, the fees charged in the UK are, and have historically been, very low.

So while you consider if three to four thousand pounds is a justifiable spend when selling a property for hundreds of thousands, remember you could be paying upward of ten thousand if you were to live in another area of the EU.”

Nation
Average Fee*
Fee on Current UK Average
1.20%
£2,738
1.25%
£2,852
1.75%
£3,993
2.00%
£4,563
2.25%
£5,133
2.75%
£6,274
3.00%
£6,844
3.00%
£6,844
3.00%
£6,844
3.00%
£6,844
3.00%
£6,844
3.00%
£6,844
3.50%
£7,985
3.75%
£8,556
4.00%
£9,126
4.00%
£9,126
4.00%
£9,126
4.00%
£9,126
4.00%
£9,126
4.00%
£9,126
4.50%
£10,267
4.50%
£10,267
4.50%
£10,267
5.00%
£11,407
5.00%
£11,407
5.00%
£11,407
6.00%
£13,689
Source for each nation’s commission hyperlinked in table.

*Fee not Inc VAT

 

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