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London home owners pay an average of almost £9,000 in commission to their estate agents for selling their property, it was claimed today.

The average fee rose seven per cent last year to £8,860 as a total of £521 million was collected by agents, according to new analysis of Land Registry figures.

Commissions were highest in the most expensive borough, Kensington & Chelsea, with an average of £24,600. Across inner London the average was £10,871, and in outer London it was £7,753.

In the 12 months to September 2016 the total value of houses sold in Greater London - where the average property price was £474,475 - was £28.9 billion.

Around 19 out of 20 sales are handled by traditional “bricks and mortar” estate agency branches charging a typical 1.5 per cent plus VAT, although the number of deals carried out by online agencies is rising.

Falling numbers of transactions have also impacted on the profits of traditional agents with one of the biggest chains, Foxtons, revealing that revenues from sales commission almost halved in the final quarter of last year.

Michael Bruce, chief executive of online agents Purplebricks, which carried out the analysis, said: “People too often engage an estate agent without realising or thinking about whether there is a better alternative.

"The service they receive is the same whether the house is valued at £100,000 or £1 million, therefore the fee paid for securing the sale should be the same.”

Most expensive fees:

1 Kensington and Chelsea £24,600 2 Westminster £18,795 3 Camden £14,100 4 Hammersmith and Fulham £12,750 5 Richmond £12,550



Cheapest fees:

1 Barking and Dagenham £5,160 2 Croydon £6,040 3 Newham £6,475 4 Hounslow £7,325 5 Lewisham £7,532

Source: Purplebricks

The figures follow the launch of Purplebricks’ new ad campaign labelling estate agency fees "commisery". The campaign to raise awareness of how much commission householders often pay to traditional estate agents when moving home, and how to avoid, it is backed by property expert and TV presenter Amanda Lamb.

She explains: “This campaign will open people’s eyes to commisery – the misery you feel when you’ve forked out thousands on commission and haven’t got anything more for your money.