What You Pay the Agent and the Lawyer When You Sell

Seeing an offer you like? Great.

Getting the deal across the finish line? Even better.

Then the professional fees arrive, and suddenly the mood changes.

Two significant costs show up in almost every Singapore home sale: your property agent's commission and your lawyer's conveyancing fee. These are the two people helping you get the sale sorted, but naturally, you will want to know exactly what you are paying for.

There are other costs too, of course. Seller's Stamp Duty, CPF refunds and the rest of the usual suspects are covered in our full guide to the costs of selling property in Singapore.

However, in this blog post, we are keeping things simple. We will look at what agents and lawyers typically charge, where you can negotiate, and what those few thousand dollars of professional help actually gets you.

Why the commission is negotiable

There is no fixed commission rate set by the Council for Estate Agencies, or CEA. You will not find an official percentage that every agent has to charge.

The fee is something you agree on directly with your agent. That is intentional.

Agents are free to compete on both price and service, so you have room to negotiate. Do not be afraid to ask what your agent is charging and what you are getting for the fee.

We always recommend agreeing on the commission in writing before the agent starts work. The agreed fee should be included in the estate agency agreement you sign at the beginning.

There is also an important rule around who pays. An agent can only collect commission from one side of the transaction, so your agent cannot charge you and then collect another commission from your buyer.

And when the sale goes through, the commission is paid to the property agency, not directly to your agent. You only pay once the transaction has been successfully completed.

What sellers typically agree

Agent commission for HDB, or Housing and Development Board, flats generally ranges between 1 and 2 per cent of the eventual sale price. For private property, that number is commonly between 1 and 3 per cent, with the higher end usually tied to the exclusive marketing of a harder-to-sell home.

Note that these are simply ranges, and not hard-and-fast rules. Fixed-fee agencies advertise 1 per cent packages, and some sellers with straightforward flats negotiate below the common numbers.

In addition, don't forget the GST, or Goods and Services Tax. This adds another 9 per cent whenever the agency is GST registered, which in practice covers the major agencies in Singapore.

On a flat sold at $630,000, the median price for a four-room resale flat across the island in the year to August 2026, a 2 per cent commission is $12,600, and the 9 per cent GST adds a further $1,134 to the bill.

Read the invoice before you pay, because a compliant bill shows the commission, the GST as a separate line, and the agency's GST registration number.

Where the commission goes in a co-broke

Most resale deals involve two agents, yours and the buyer's. The fee still comes from you, the seller.

For a typical flat sale, you might agree on a commission of around 2 per cent. Your agent may then share part of that commission with the agent who found the buyer.

The agency also takes its share, and the rest goes to your agent. That is one reason 2 per cent has become the common figure for HDB flat sales.

In 2024, the Singapore Estate Agents Association encouraged agents to collect their commission from the client they represent. But in practice, the arrangement can still vary depending on the agency and the deal.

So before you sign anything, ask your agent exactly how the commission will be split. It is a simple question, but it tells you who is actually paying the buyer's agent and where your money is going.

What the fee buys

So, what are you actually paying for? With a full service listing, your agent handles the heavy lifting from start to finish.

That usually means helping you price the property, arranging photos and marketing, handling viewings, negotiating with buyers and taking care of the paperwork until completion.

There is also the less visible work behind the scenes. Your agent must comply with the Council for Estate Agencies' requirements, including checks on the people involved in the deal.

The process also depends on what you are selling. An HDB sale follows HDB's resale process and eligibility checks, while a private property sale is driven more by market pricing and the buyer's financing.

Our guides to selling an HDB flat, selling a condo, and selling a landed property break down each process.

When we help owners sell, we find the best value usually comes from asking what your agent will actually do for you before worrying about the percentage. A low commission does not mean much if you are getting very little for it.

Negotiating the rate

If you want to negotiate the agent's fee, do it before you sign the agency agreement. Once you sign, that is the fee you have agreed to, so changing it later can be much harder.

It is always easier to settle the number upfront than to start negotiating again after your property is already on the market. Get clear on the fee and what you are getting for it before the listing goes live.

Properties with plenty of recent transactions nearby usually give you more room to negotiate. If your flat is in a popular location with lots of similar homes selling, your agent may not need to spend as much on marketing.

A niche landed property, on the other hand, can take more time, effort and marketing to find the right buyer. The fee can reflect that.

The important thing is not to focus on the percentage alone. A cheaper agent who prices your home badly could cost you far more than the commission you save.

Before you agree to a fee, ask a few simple questions. What does the marketing include, and will the agent co-broke with other agents?

How would they price your home based on recent nearby transactions, and how many similar homes have they actually sold in your area? Those answers will tell you much more about whether the fee is worth paying.

The lawyer's bill

Commission is the larger fee. The legal bill behind every sale is smaller and far more predictable.

Every property sale needs conveyancing. This is the legal work that makes sure everything is properly wrapped up, from paying off your mortgage and receiving the buyer's money to checking the title and completing the transfer on the agreed date.

It does not matter whether you sell through an agent or find the buyer yourself. You will still need a lawyer to handle the legal side of the sale.

For a private property, you can generally expect to pay around $2,000 to $3,000 in legal fees for the sale. If you are selling an HDB flat, the legal fees are usually lower because the process is more straightforward.

For an HDB flat sold through a private law firm, the bill is commonly between $1,500 and $3,000 all-in.

If your flat has no outstanding loan, or your loan is from HDB itself, you may be able to appoint HDB to act on your behalf in the sale. Its in-house legal fees are usually the cheapest route, and its online calculator can give you an estimate before you decide.

If you used a bank loan to finance your flat, you will need a private lawyer to handle the sale and settle the outstanding loan. The same applies when you sell a condo or landed property.

Just remember that your lawyer's fee is not the only legal cost. You will usually have a few hundred dollars of extra disbursements for things like caveat filings, title searches and stamp duty lodgement.

These are separate charges, so make sure you include them when working out your total selling costs. The Goods and Services Tax applies to the professional fee, and it does not apply to the government charges.

When we walk sellers through their completion statement, the legal bill is often the one cost they did not expect. It is easy to focus on the agent's commission and forget that there is still legal work to pay for.

Your lawyer also makes sure the sale proceeds go where they are supposed to. That includes paying off your outstanding loan and handling the CPF refund, so the money used from your CPF account goes back correctly after the sale.

What sellers ask about the fees

Do I pay GST on top of the commission?

Yes, if your agent is from a GST-registered agency. Major agencies in Singapore are all registered, and the tax adds 9 per cent on the agreed commission, which should appear as its own line on the invoice.

Who pays the buyer's agent?

For a typical flat sale, your agent may share the agreed commission with the agent who brings the buyer. But things are changing.

Under newer industry guidance, some buyer's agents now collect their fee directly from the buyer instead. So before you sign the agency agreement, ask your agent which arrangement applies to your sale.

It is a small detail, but it matters because it tells you exactly what your commission is paying for.

When is the commission payable?

Only when the sale completes. The money goes to the agency, and an agent has no basis to ask for commission upfront on a sale that has not happened.

Can I avoid either fee?

Yes, you can avoid the agent's commission if you sell the property yourself. But you will then be taking care of everything yourself too, including pricing the home, arranging viewings and negotiating with buyers.

The legal fee is different. You cannot simply skip conveyancing because you are selling without an agent.

You will still need a lawyer, or HDB where it can act for you, to handle the legal transfer and settle any outstanding mortgage. So selling on your own can save you the agent's commission, but the legal work still needs to be done.

Weighing up an agent's quote? Talk to the Prop.sg team and we'll tell you plainly what a fair arrangement looks like for your home.