Housebuilders are offering to pay buyers’ estate agent fees in a desperate attempt to offload luxury new-builds.
Oakley, a developer in Sussex, said it would cover the costs as an incentive for buying an apartment at the Argentum development in Hove, according to an email seen by The Telegraph.
A two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat in the beachfront development listed on property portal Zoopla costs £795,000. If a buyer were downsizing from a property worth £800,000, they would save nearly £10,400 in estate agent fees.
In the UK, traditional high street estate agent fees average about 1.3pc of the final property sale price, according to property website Rightmove.
This offer however is dwarfed by the four and five-figure freebies offered by the larger operators, as housebuilders battle with a sluggish market.
Berkeley Group last month offered to pay buyers more than £40,000 in private school fees covering up to two years at St John’s Preparatory and Senior School at its Trent Park housing estate in North London.
L&Q Homes, which sells shared ownership flats, has offered a TUI holiday voucher worth £2,000, while an £8,000 furniture package is offered by Bellway for its apartments in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire.
Another regional developer, Jones Homes, offers a stamp duty contribution to attract would-be buyers.
Others included free cars and service charge holidays.
