London estate agents made £1.1bn in fees last year – which boroughs did they earn most in?

Warning: If you don’t like estate agents then you’re not going to like this news story

London estate agents earned an eye-watering £1.1bn in fees last year, up 23% from 2013.

According to research by property website HouseSimple, estate agents got paid an average of £9,384 per property bought in 2014.

In Kensington & Chelsea, the borough of the rich and famous, estate agent fees soared 16.2% to £73m.

However, with a 55% rise in fees to £18m –the Olympic borough Newham saw the biggest rise in percentage fees.

Alex Gosling, chief executive of HouseSimple, said: “With buyers galore it was easy money for agents as properties were snapped up almost the minute they came onto the market.

“Properties in desirable London boroughs were practically selling themselves, and yet high street agents stubbornly kept their fee levels high.

“Many sellers were probably asking the same question: ‘why am I paying tens of thousands of pounds in fees to you when the first person to view made an offer which I accepted?’”

 

Take a look at what estate agents earned by borough in 2014:

• Newham, 17,600,037, annual increase of 54.8%
• Greenwich, £30,525,873, annual increase of 50.3%
• Waltham Forest, 24,234,321, annual increase of 48.5%
• Barking and Dagenham, £11,732,303, annual increase of 44.6%
• Croydon, £37,090,855, annual increase of 42.4%
• Tower Hamlets, 49,578,205, annual increase of 42.1%
• Brent, £24,425,944 annual increase of 36.3%
• Hackney, £35,257,426, annual increase of 32.7%
• Redbridge, 24,795,892, annual increase of 32.5%
• Bromley, £46,250,409, annual increase of 32.1%
• Bexley, £21,433,837, annual increase of 30.6%
• Havering, £25,186,471, annual increase of 30.4%
• Lewisham, 33,812,807, annual increase of 30.1%
• Sutton, 20,928,325, annual increase of 27.6%
• Enfield, £24,095,714, annual increase of 26.7%
• Haringey, £27,270,299, annual increase of 25.7%
• Lambeth, 51,602,442, annual increase of 24.1%
• Hounslow, £22,328,806, annual increase of 22.8%
• Hillingdon, £23,260,433, annual increase of 21.6%
• Harrow, £19,505,600, annual increase of 16.3%
• Kensington and Chelsea, 73,328,825, annual increase of 16.2%
• Wandsworth, 69,010,252, annual increase of 15.1%
• Barnet, £43,378,617, annual increase of 15.1%
• Westminster, 70,392,543, annual increase of 14%
• Camden, £46,308,063, annual increase of 12.2%
• Richmond upon Thames, 42,231,825, annual increase of 10.6%
• Merton, 27,716,168, annual increase of 10.5%
• Islington, 36,708,945, annual increase of 10.4%
• Southwark, 41,537,220, annual increase of 10.3%
• Hammersmith and Fulham, £43,199,486, annual increase of 10%
• Ealing, £29,228,087, annual increase of 2.7%

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