UK agents struggle to break into the Top 10 of world’s best paid

Research by estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, reveals that UK estate agents only just make the top 10 when it comes to the best paid in the world, and that, when comparing agent salary to the overall average earnings in their respective nations, they slide even further down the table.

There is little disagreement that the UK’s estate agents have been working extremely hard over the past couple of years. During a very difficult period of pandemic, they have enabled the UK housing market to boom, ensuring that rising buyer demand has been satisfied and keeping hold-ups and blockages to a minimum.

Despite this, an analysis of estate agent base salaries around the world reveals that the UK’s agents are only the 9th best paid with an average annual salary of £39,257. In comparison, the best paid agents in the world are found in the US (£51,365), Australia (£51,809), and Canada (£48,262).

Furthermore, when comparing agent base salaries to the average overall income in their respective countries, UK agents slide down the table to 13th, with their average salary being just 5.3% (£1,992) above the national average income (£37,265).

In the top spot is Argentina where agents earn 43.8% more than the average national income, followed by Brazil (18.8%) and Russia (15.7%).

At the other end of the scale, agents in South Korea earn -19.9% less than the average national income, followed by China (-4.1%), and France (-2.5%).

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:

“The UK public tends to give estate agents a hard time, particularly when it comes to the fees charged to sell a home. However, it’s fair to say that the rise of the low cost online agent has opened the public’s eyes to just how bad an estate agency can be and they’ve grown to appreciate that the expertise and guidance of a great estate agent are well worth the slightly higher cost.

Despite this, the base salary of the nation’s estate agents barely ranks within the top 10 globally and sits even lower in the rankings when compared to the average national wage.

Of course, there are additional income opportunities on offer in the form of commission, but given the monumental shift the industry has put in during the pandemic, isn’t about time we start to value them a bit more?.”