GLASGOW homebuyers have suffered the steepest rise in commission charged by estate agents in Scotland over the past year as more than £156 million was paid out across the country.
House hunters in Scotland’s largest city saw a six per cent increase in payments after their purchases have gone through over the last 12 months. The typical sales commission for the city has risen by more than £120 to £2,164.
In Edinburgh, where the typical fee of £4,326 paid to estate agents is the highest in Scotland, the rise was just 0.8 per cent.
In the cheapest region for fees, Inverclyde, the typical commission actually fell by 0.3 per cent to £1,821.
Online estate agency, Purplebricks, which collated the statistics, said the selling fees across Scotland mirrors the way house prices have risen and in some cases fallen, as traditional agents usually take a percentage of the house sale.
The fixed-fee agents said that Scots homebuyers are paying estate agents ever more money in fees with some £156.7m charged in commission for selling property in 2016.
Their study shows the typical fee charged in Scotland rose by more than £100 (four per cent) in a year to average £2,633 – half the rate of the rest of the UK.
Elsewhere, the typical commission in Aberdeenshire was £3,296 a 1.2 per cent rise in the year and in Stirling there was a 4.8 per cent rise to £3,185.
According to Nationwide Building Society, house prices in Scotland increased by 2.2 per cent to reach an average of £142,895 in 2016
Across the UK, high street estate agents have broken through the £4 billion a year barrier in earnings from commission fees on house sales thanks to soaring property values, while the nationwide average fee charged on selling a home was £4,055 – a rise of nearly eight per cent in the year.
Purplebricks has launched a campaign to raise awareness of how much commission householders have been paying to traditional estate agents when moving home, and how they can avoid paying so much by taking a fixed fee.
Property expert and TV presenter Amanda Lamb, who is backing the campaign, said: “This campaign will open people’s eyes to the misery you feel when you’ve forked out thousands on commission and haven’t got anything more for your money.
“Research shows that 95 per cent of people don’t realise exactly what they are paying in commission, until the bill hits and this needs to change. It is virtual money because it isn’t paid up front and in some ways the amount is hidden until the last moment.” Factoring in VAT is something people forget to do as well, so what starts as a low percentage on paper adds up into a considerable sum in commission paid.
Purplebricks said traditional agents’ charges can be as high as 2.5 per cent, but a typical fee is 1.8 per cent.
Purplebricks chief executive Michael Bruce said: “People too often engage an estate agent without realising or thinking about whether there is a better alternative.”
Mark Hayward, managing director of the National Association of Estate Agents, said of the UK figures the increases were in line with expectations.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel