Comparing Britain’s biggest estate agents
Our expert team has independently investigated the estate agency sector in the UK. You may think that estate agencies are all independent local firms, but when you look behind the name, you’ll often find they are part of a larger group such as Countrywide or Sequence.
Your choice of estate agent can make a huge difference, not only to the speed of your sale, but also to the service you receive and how simple and straightforward the sales process is. Plus it can make a difference of thousands of pounds to your final bill.
See if an estate agent is right for you in just a few clicks
We’ve carefully checked all the biggest players in the estate agency sector, testing them on a wide range of factors that could affect your property sale. Remember, even with the very best estate agent, you will not be able to sell your home as fast as you can to a cash buyer, and there’s still a one in three chance that your sale will fall through.
We ranked the big estate agency groups, as well as online estate agents and ‘self-selling’ companies like Purple Bricks, to see how they compared on:
- The cost of selling with an estate agent
- Average time to sell with an estate agent
- Service levels and customer satisfaction
- Typical sales package (such as video tours, 3D room views etc)
- Exclusive contracts and other tie-ins
- Average customer review scores
- History, reputation and industry standing
We’ve combined all this data, along with a host of other research, to create their overall PSW rating – your instant guide to the best estate agents in Britain.
These reviews are thorough and uncompromising and each one takes hours to prepare. So now, instead of weeks’ worth of research, it only takes a you few minutes to compare estate agents and see if they offer a better deal than selling your home to a cash homebuyer.
Commission
Estate agents generally charge their fees as a percentage of your property sale price. This can vary between 1% and 3% or more, with VAT added on top. Choosing the right estate agent can make a difference of thousands of pounds in commission alone. Remember, there is no commission or estate agent fees to pay with a cash homebuyer.
Average Sale Time
Naturally, a whole range of market forces will affect how long it takes to sell your home with an estate agent. Nonetheless, some estate agents still manage to sell faster than others. If you’re in a hurry to sell, average sale time will be a big factor in choosing the right estate agent for you. Remember, you could sell your home to a cash buyer in just two weeks or less.
Customer Reviews
The experience of other home sellers will tell you a lot about an estate agent, including things that they might not be willing to tell you themselves. We carefully check feedback and independent customer reviews so you can see behind the glossy websites and flashy store fronts to find the truth about how your estate agent treats its customers
PSW Rating
The PSW rating is our own unique, expert score, based on our sophisticated, multi-faceted, bespoke analysis. We are fully independent, and our only motivation is to help you get the best deal, whether you are selling through an estate agent or selling your home to a cash buyer.