The Property Industry Eye survey into property portal pricing received an initial 1,293 responses.

We removed a number that did not have an identifiable individual or company name, those that were clearly not credible, and those whose answers were so incomplete as to be unusable.

This left a total of 1,115 responses to work with.

It should be noted that not every respondent answered every question. Therefore quoted percentages across different survey questions may not always be calculated on the same base figure. They are calculated on the actual number of respondents to that particular question.

To keep things simple, on several questions we set ranges for each possible answer – for example 2-5 branches, £200-300, etc.

In terms of deciding how representative the survey is of the entire UK industry of estate agencies, we use the calculation that there are around 20,000 branches across the country, as explained here

At minimum, the survey responses represent 2,192 branches or 10.6% of the industry.

We publish the results of this survey in good faith but with the caveat that the information received from the respondents has not been verified. We believe that the survey is an accurate representation, but any conclusions or inferences that may be drawn from the data must be treated with due caution. We also acknowledge that within the limited scope of the survey questions, it was not possible to drill down and identify the exact composition of the portals’ charges, so there may be unknown factors that cause similar sized operations to be paying widely varying prices.

Finally, we would like to make absolutely clear that this survey has not been undertaken at the behest of any portal or third party organisation. It is an initiative that Property Industry Eye conceived and carried out with total independence.

We would like to thank everyone who took the trouble to help publicise the survey, and all those who have taken part in it.

Further analysis will follow throughout this week.