Home sellers are now paying £793 more in estate agent commission when selling their home, thanks to the pandemic house price boom, according to property purchasing specialist House Buyer Bureau.
House Buyer Bureau analysed the average fee paid by sellers across each region of England and the rise in the cost to sell when compared to the pre-pandemic market.
The research shows that by the end of December, prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, the average estate agent bagged £3,771 in commission.
Since then the average house price in England has climbed 22% due to the pandemic property price boom.
Despite a reduced cost of 1.51% compared to 1.52% in December 2019, the average house seller now pays estate agency fees totalling £4,564, an increase of £793.
Even when the London real estate market is having trouble compared to the rest of the UK, the city still has the highest property selling expenses. According to current market values, the average cost of 1.74% equals £9,130, an £835 hike from the pre-pandemic market.
However, London home sellers have only seen the fourth largest increase in the cost of selling a home.
In the South East, this cost has increased by almost a thousand pounds since the start of the pandemic (+£996), with the South West of England (+£960) and East of England (+£906) also seeing some of the largest increases.
Home sellers in the North East have seen the smallest increase, with the average cost of selling up by £440.
Chris Hodgkinson, managing director of House Buyer Bureau, said: “There are a whole host of costs involved in selling a home, above and beyond the fee paid to your selling agent.
“However, these tend to be fixed and remain largely unchanged regardless of wider market performance.
“The fee charged by a selling agent, on the other hand, changes depending on the value of the home being sold.
“So while homeowners have enjoyed some pretty high and sustained rates of house price growth during the pandemic, the same increase in the value of their home will cost them a fair bit more if they do decide to sell up.”
