An unbiased estimate of the average intrinsic X-ray properties and column density distribution of Seyfert galaxies in the local Universe is crucial to validate unified models of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and to synthesis models for the X-ray background. We present here preliminary results obtained from an on-going XMM-Newton study (~250 ks awarded in the EPIC GT) on a well-defined, statistically complete, and significant sample of nearby Seyfert galaxies.