Are you considering selling your house? What is the cost of selling a house? Anyone looking to sell their home must understand the costs involved to budget effectively.
One of the main costs related to selling your house is the fee for the estate agent, which is usually a percentage of the sale. So, if you sell your home in areas such as Regents Park, Marylebone, Mayfair and Camden, where average sale prices are high, you’ll usually have considerable estate agent fees to pay.
Average Cost Of Selling A House In Central London
There are many different costs to consider if you are considering selling your Central London property, including estate agent fees, conveyancing fees and removal costs.
Properties in Central London command higher asking prices than most other areas of the UK, so the costs for selling in this area will quickly stack up if you are paying the agent a percentage of the sale price. The average price for property in the last 12 months in Central London was £1,537,178 according to Rightmove, and the average estate agent fee was around 2%.
Average costs for selling a house in Central London
Type of cost
Average cost in Central London
Estate agents’ fees (based on 2% of property price)
£30,744
Conveyancing fees
£2,000
Removal company fees
£800
EPC
£120
Total:
£33,664
Estate agents’ fees vary significantly from one agent to the next, usually between 1% – 3%. The variance in property prices around the UK also means that fees can differ significantly even with the same agent.
For example, properties in Mayfair had an average price of £3,738,771 in the last 12 months, so with an agent fee of 2%, the average amount a seller would pay in fees to the agent in Mayfair would have been £74,775.
In other areas of the UK, where the average property is a more affordable £350,000, a 2% agent fee would be £7,000, so the price of the property has an enormous influence on agent fees unless your agent works on a fixed cost rather than a percentage of the property sale value.
How Much Does It Cost To Sell A House?
When you are selling a house, the highest costs will usually be estate agency fees and conveyancing fees, but there are many other costs to budget for.
Below we have listed the most common costs to factor in when selling your home:
1. Estate Agent Fees For Selling
The biggest cost you’ll face when selling your house is usually the estate agency fees. Fees are typically charged as a percentage of the sale price, or the agent might agree to a fixed fee.
Figures from the estate agent comparison website GetAgent show the average high street estate agent fee in the UK is 1.43% (including VAT). However, charges vary depending on location, with London agents charging higher than average fees.
Fees also vary from estate agent to estate agent. It is worth getting valuations from three local high street agents and comparing costs and service levels before deciding. Don’t just go on fees alone. Get recommendations, look at review sites and find how many properties the agent has sold in your area. Think too about whether you’ll be happy doing business with them.
In the London Borough of Westminster, the average house price was £970,000 in September 2024. If you were to pay a 2% agent fee on this house price, the agent fee would be £19,400.
Opting for an agent who charges a fixed fee could save you money, especially on higher-value properties.
One way to save money on fees for an estate agent is to use an online agent instead of high street agents. However, you should also consider whether an online estate agent will be able to provide you with the service that you require. While you might be able to save on the fees, you may need to conduct viewings yourself and an online estate agent may not provide negotiations that help to achieve the maximum price for the property.
Online estate agents do not have the same local area knowledge that a traditional estate agent has, and they may be more difficult to get in touch with about any queries you have or for progress updates.
Cost of selling a house at auction
Another option is to sell at auction, which will help to speed up the sale process but will generally mean you do not achieve as a high a price.
There are several costs involved in selling at auction:
Entry fee: £300 – £500 plus VAT
Auctioneer’s commission: 2% – 3% of sale price
Auction legal pack: £200 – £300
It is possible to pass on the sale costs onto the buyer, which will require a clause to be added in the legal pack. However, auction bidders will usually limit their bids to incorporate any extra sale costs.
2. Conveyancing Fees
You’ll need to hire a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to deal with the legal aspects of selling your property. Conveyancing solicitors have varying legal fees structures, with the following being the most common:
Hourly fee (typically £200 to £300 per hour)
Flat fee
Flat fee plus extras
Percentage of house price sale
If you are buying a house and selling at the same time, employing the same conveyancer to manage both transactions is advisable and can save you some money. As a seller, you will usually pay between £700 and £2,000.
In England, the buyers are responsible for paying for a home report but if there are any issues, you may have additional fees to pay to the conveyancer if there is extra work involved for them.
You should contact a few different solicitors/conveyancers to get several quotes for conveyancing fees and ask what is included. Generally, the more experienced and higher quality solicitors charge more.
3. Removal Costs
Unless you have a very small home with few belongings, you’ll likely need the services of a professional removal company to help with the process and look after your possessions.
Removal firm fees can vary hugely depending on the size of the job and the level of service you want, for example, whether you require a packing and unpacking service, if you need to hire packing crates or leave items in storage. Fees can range from £800 to more than £2,000.
Removal company costs will largely be based on:
Location of property
Number of rooms
Number of items/boxes
Distance between properties
Additional services required e.g. packing/unpacking
Remember, you are trusting the removal company with all your valuable belongings, so you want to make sure you choose a highly reputable company. You should ask for recommendations and check online reviews for different removal companies to find the best one for your needs and check what level of insurance they have to protect your belongings.
4. Mortgage Charges
Porting your mortgage
If you are selling your house to buy a new one, your mortgage lender may let you port your mortgage. This means you can transfer your mortgage from your existing property to your new home. When you port your mortgage, you repay your current mortgage and resume it on the same terms. If you are within the mortgage’s initial deal term, you will probably have to pay an early repayment charge, typically between 1% and 5% of the remaining debt.
If you move to a more expensive property and borrow more money, you may need to take out a new mortgage for the additional amount on different terms.
If you are downsizing, you may face early repayment charges.
Re-Mortgaging
Moving house is an excellent opportunity to see if you can save money on your mortgage repayments, especially if you have come to the end of the initial deal term and are now paying the standard variable rate (SVR). You will still need to pay arrangement and product fees for your new mortgage and a mortgage valuation survey.
If you are still in your fixed-rate period, you’ll also have to pay an early mortgage exit fee which can add thousands to your moving costs. You should check with your lender whether there are any fees for ending your mortgage early or any other types of mortgage fees related to selling a property.
5. Preparing Your Home For Sale
It is worth investing a little time and money smartening up your property to make it more appealing to buyers. These are some of the tasks and typical costs:
Cleaning – If you decide to hire a professional cleaning company, this is likely to cost around £200 to £300, depending on the size of the house.
Carpet cleaning – If your carpets are badly stained, paying for them to be cleaned professionally will cost around £300 to £500, depending on the number and size of carpets.
Repainting – Sprucing up your home with a lick of paint could make all the difference to clinching a sale. This is especially true if your existing colour scheme involves dark or bright shades or if your property hasn’t been redecorated in the last five years or so. If you pay a professional redecorator, it will cost around £500 to £900 per room in London.
For more ideas for preparing your property for sale, read our blog on how to make your house more appealing to buyers.
Be careful how much you spend; expensive improvements will likely help you sell your home quicker, but you may not recoup the total value.
You must provide prospective buyers with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). An EPC certificate contains information about the home’s energy efficiency on a scale of A to G (with A being the most efficient). EPC certificates last ten years, so you must purchase a new one if yours has expired. Energy Performance Certificates are carried out by accredited assessors and cost between £60 and £120.
Although an EPC is valid for ten years, you may benefit from getting a new one if you have had any improvements that will have increased the energy performance, such as installing a new boiler or new double glazing.
7. Taxes
Capital Gains Tax
When you sell a flat or house that is not your main residence, you will usually have to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) if the property has risen in value. Basic-rate taxpayers pay 18% on gains they make when selling property, while higher-rate taxpayers pay 28%.
Read our blog on capital gains tax to determine whether you need to pay CGT on your selling property and calculate your tax amount.
Stamp Duty
The home buyer always pays stamp duty, not the seller. If you are selling your home to buy a new one, you will need to pay this tax, but it is not part of the cost of selling your house.
How To Calculate Profit When Selling A House?
Your profit is the difference between what you paid for your property and the amount you got when you sold it. You should deduct the costs of buying and selling a house from your profit, including:
estate agent and solicitor’s fees
improvement works, for example, an extension
stamp tax when you bought the property
How To Reduce The Cost Of Selling A House
Although some costs of selling might be out of your control, there are some ways that you can reduce the costs involved in selling your property:
Use a conveyancer instead of a solicitor
A conveyancer can provide you with the conveyancing services you need without the higher expense of using a qualified lawyer. If there are no complex legal issues related to the property sale, using a licensed conveyancer should reduce costs.
Port your mortgage rather than re-mortgaging
If you are buying a new property and require a mortgage for your next property, instead of re-mortgaging, you may save on some mortgage costs by porting your existing mortgage. Porting your mortgage enables you to keep your current deal, and there will be no re-mortgaging fees.
Keep removal costs down
Keep your removal costs down by doing the removals yourself or with the help of family and friends. Hiring a van for a day to transport bulky items will cost significantly less than employing a full removal service for all your items.
Don’t overdo improvements
Home staging can help sell your house faster and even achieve a higher asking price, but if you spend too much on making improvements, your moving costs will increase. Stick to small, cost-effective improvements that will add value to your property.
Time your sale
If you have the flexibility to choose the time of your sale, sell your house at a time when you can achieve the maximum amount. Traditionally Spring is a good time to sell your home, but you should carefully watch the property market to sell at the optimal time.
Use a good estate agent
We mentioned earlier that the biggest cost of selling a house is usually the fees you pay the agent, but that does not necessarily mean you should pick the cheapest option. You might be able to save a few hundred pounds on fees, but it could cost you more if you do not get as high a price for your house.
If you’d like more advice about the costs involved in selling property, or if you have a Central London property in areas such as Marylebone or Regents Park, we’d be happy to help. Please contact us today to discuss the services we offer.
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Kevin Gold
Kubie Gold Associates are an independent local firm of estate agents specialising in the Rental, Sale and Property Management of Residential Property in the North-West and Central London market
