HERE’S some news that will hardly surprise: four out of five people believe that estate agents should be more tightly regulated. That’s according to a new survey carried out by property website myhome.ie, which questioned over 1,000 buyers and sellers.

Over half of respondents said they did not believe estate agent fees were reasonable, with only 17 per cent believing that they were. The survey should be of some use to the National Property Regulatory Services Authority (NPRSA), which was established four years ago but still has not been given legislative backing to regulate the property sector.

While many of those surveyed expressed discontent with the fees charged by agents, fees were ranked as only the third most important factor for choosing an auctioneer. Two thirds of respondents admitted they chose an agent charging average fees, with only 20 per cent opting for the agent offering the lowest fee.

Sellers are still inclined to shop around for an estate agent (though estate agents will tell you that they, too, are getting choosier and are not inclined to take on a property where the price is clearly unrealistic). Almost half of those surveyed said they had contacted three estate agents.

A third of respondents felt that estate agents were not honest, with a further 30 per cent saying the opposite. Estate agents aside, the survey has some sobering news for developers and indeed for Nama, which now controls a vast number of the new homes built during the final phase of the boom. Over two thirds of sellers said they wished to move to a second-hand property, with a scant 15 per cent expressing a preference for a new home or apartment.