Britain’s best agents achieve up to £36,000 more than asking price for their vendors, claim

The HomeOwners Alliance has claimed that a good estate agent can maximise their value to a vendor by selling a property for thousands more than the agent’s own asking price.

The Alliance, which is one-third owned by conveyancing business ULS Technology, has named Britain’s best agents in a league table, saying that the one that comes top is achieving on average £36,000 over asking price.

For its finding, the Alliance used ULS’s estate agency comparison website, www.estateagent4me.co.uk

The Alliance’s findings may stir controversy over the art of valuation and attracting buyers, while there is also a debate as to whether online/hybrid agents are motivated to get the best price given that they are generally paid on listing rather than sale.

The Alliance named Roy Brooks, of East Dulwich, London, as the UK’s best-performing agent, achieving an average of almost 6% above asking price over the past six months, equating to an extra £36,064 on average.

It said that in Bristol, top-rated agents get £12,000 over the asking price, and in Birmingham the best agents secure an extra £5,700 on average for their customers.

At the other end of the spectrum, however, it said many agents in central London are agreeing sales at 10% lower than the original asking price – equating to over £700,000.

Paula Higgins, chief executive of the Alliance, said: “When listing your home on the market it may be tempting to instruct the agent which gives you the highest valuation.

“However, by using the EstateAgent4Me tool, sellers can find out which agents are prone to over-valuing properties and which are successful in achieving or exceeding their asking price.”

Felicity Blair of Roy Brooks said: “It’s great when an independent body affirms that you are doing a good job, and this news from HOA is exceptionally rewarding.

“Thank you for providing a tool to help sellers identify agents that are most accurately determining values, as we believe this is key to a successful sale.”

A spokesperson for the HomeOwners Alliance told EYE that the EstateAgent4Me tool analyses data from over 18,000 agents and that agents with less than 2% market share in their localities are excluded.

Asked how it can be certain that a particular agent has sold a particular property, we were told that the tool matches its data with Land Registry records using the address “and a combination of other factors”.

The Land Registry does not record which agent was involved in any transaction.

The HomeOwners Alliance chart showing Britain’s best performing agents in terms of getting over the asking price:

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Roy Brooks East Dulwich, London £657,855 105.80% £36,064
Wilson Heal Amersham, Buckinghamshire £695,000 104.30% £28,653
Cockburn Mottingham, London £329,750 109.40% £28,280
Christopher Edwards Pinner, London £358,452 107.90% £26,279
Simmons & Sons Basingstoke £383,746 106.90% £24,856

 

Local charts from the HomeOwners Alliance, covering some of Britain’s cities:

 

Birmingham

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Wolfs Harborne £192,450 103.1% £5,787
Shakespeare’s Hall Green £230,000 101.2% £2,727
Evans Kings Norton £137,500 101.7% £2,300

 

Bristol

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Andrews Bristol £250,000 105.2% £12,357
Elephant Bishopston £399,950 102.6% £9,986
Hollis Morgan Clifton £237,750 103.8% £8,708

 

 Coventry

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Loveitts Coventry £149,659 101.1% £1,610
Shortland Horne Walsgrave Rd, Coventry £150,000 100.9% £1,365
Whitegates Coventry £125,000 100.9% £1,115

  

Leeds

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Preston Baker Roundhay Rd, Leeds £245,000 101.7% £4,095
William H Brown Headingley £159,714 100.7% £1,120
Linley & Simpson Horsforth £162,881 100.1% £168

 

Liverpool

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Venmore Liverpool £73,986 106.8% £4,711
Sutton Kersh Cotton Street, Liverpool £45,000 110.6% £4,296

 

Manchester

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Harrisons Urmston £220,000 101.3% £2,823
Thornley Groves Manchester £166,119 101.3% £2,103
Springbok Manchester £108,250 102.45% £2,587

 

Newcastle

 

Estate Agent Location Average selling price Average % of asking price Average value added
Pattinson Chillingham Rd, Newcastle £109,967 103.5% £3,733
Bailey & Co Jesmond £239,409 100.9% £2,360
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13 Comments

  1. Chris Wood

    The methodology on this will be key. Very easy to achieve exceptionally misleading results.

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    1. Bless You

      So Auction estate agents who have low reserves or ‘offers over’ agents, or agents who actually value poorly will come out top….
      Agent swho get less then asking price should be commended for ‘testing the market’ for their clients…
      If we had a decent body who could use the figures to make onliners look bad it would be ok,,,but nobody of any use ( sellers) will even see this in the public domain. 
       
       

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      1. Garret2

        “Commended for ‘testing the market'”!!??
        When (except with unique property) did this become a good thing to do?
        With the greatest of respect, are you a proper estate agents or a memeber of the public?

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    2. PeeBee

      The methodology is here, Chris:

      hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-selling/how-estateagent4me-works/

      Potentially more flaws than the Sears Tower, I would suggest…

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  2. AgentPink92

    Which? Magazine did a comprehensive analysis of original marketing price v sale price achieved over a 12 month period from August 2015 to August 2016 published this February;

    http://www.which.co.uk/news/2017/02/estate-agents-who-overprice-properties-costs-sellers-4-3bn/

     

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  3. MarkRowe

    What tosh.

    I keep saying this and actually for once, PIE, I think you need to take some responsibility behind your reporting…

    Proving which agent can achieve more over another is IMPOSSIBLE. You would only be able to do this if we all had exactly the same stock, marketed at exactly the same time in exactly the same parts of the country.

    In fact there are so many variables that this data is way off the mark.

    PIE, you know our industry by now, you know it needs transparency. Perhaps you could assist by not reporting supposed ‘accurate data’ like this?

     

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  4. AgencyInsider

    Please excuse my bluntness, The innumerable factors affecting asking price and sale price make this ‘survey’ a complete and utter load of unscientific, pointless b*ll*cks.

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    1. MarkRowe

      Yes. Agreed. I perhaps should have reduced my rant to exactly that 🙂

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  5. mrharvey

    Who calls their estate agency “Cockburn”?

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    1. PeeBee

      Maybe we all should – their name’s on that list – is yours…?

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      1. mrharvey

        Joke’s on you. It is actually.

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  6. Woodentop

    Or is this a list of agents that undervalued?

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  7. Herb

    http://www.estateagent4me.co.uk pick selected random data so their results are not accurate

    They contravene ASA guidelines and therefore are liable for prosecution.

    They need to supply source data on how they arrive at their figures.

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