For sale by owner not sold through brokers each year (as of 2004). MSN Money suggests that 30% of homes are sold without using a real estate agent. More than half of the homes sold in Quebec are sold without an agent. In the UK, the average commission rate is significantly lower than in Canada or the US. Properties for sale by owner are less common. By law, all sales of property have to be supervised and handled by an independent solicitor who acts as a mediator and holds the buyer's money until the purchase process is finished. In Australia, the FSBO is still
Estate agent estate agents" have provided an alternative to the traditional fee structure, claiming cheaper, fixed fee selling packages. These online estate agents claim to give private property sellers the ability to market their property via the major property portals (the preferred medium used by traditional high street estate agents) for a fraction of the cost of the traditional estate agency. Online estate agents claim that they can advertise a property as effectively as traditional estate agents by using digital marketing techniques and centralising their back office operation to one location, rather than having physical offices in the town in which they