The effect Brexit is likely to have on the property industry has been revealed by a House of Commons committee.

Its research, published today, shows that 3% of the UK’s 43,000-strong sales, lettings and property management related workforce are EU nationals and 1.5% are non-EU nationals – or nearly five percent of the workforce in total.

Based on ONS figures, the committee therefore concludes that if many of these people were to leave the UK and return to their home countries, it would not pose a threat.

“The work of UK-based estate agents is primarily domestic and is generally not highly dependent on EU labour,” the report by the House of Commons Committee on Exiting the European Union says.

Brexit: EU renters

More problematical is the high number of ‘other nationalities’ who rent properties in the UK, the Brexit report suggests.

It quotes the most recent English Housing Survey, which points to nearly a quarter of all privately rented accommodation being inhabited by EU nationals or those from outside Europe.

The ‘other nationalities’ highlighted in the report also own 3.4% of all owner-occupied properties, although this is much higher in central London’s prime districts, and 8.4% of local authority – and 7.4 of housing association – provided rental accommodation.

The report also highlights some interesting facts about the UK property including that 18.8% of all private residential stock is rented, that there are 93,000 businesses in the UK involved in commercial and residential property which between them turnover £62.8 billion and employ over half a million people.

Within the residential sector, the report says, there are 20,309 estate agents in the UK employing 161,000 people helping turn over £11.7 billion.

Read the full report.