Average time to completion has increased by 12 days +

Average time to completion has increased by 12 days +

9:54 AM, 3rd December 2020, About 4 years ago 2

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The latest research, GetAgent.co.uk, has revealed that the time it’s taking to sell a property across Britain has increased by 12 days so far in 2020. However, in some parts of Britain, this increase is far higher.

GetAgent.co.uk pulls data from all of the major portals which they then cross-reference with the Land Registry, using proprietary algorithms to create a comprehensive record of what is selling, where, for how much and how long it’s taking. GetAgent analysed selling times between January and November in both 2019 and 2020 to give a like for like comparison on the change in market conditions.

The figures show that in 2020, the time to sell from the point of listing online to completion has already increased by 12 days when compared to 2019.

The West Midlands has seen the longest delays with transactions now taking 17 days longer to complete than last year. The East Midlands isn’t far behind, with an increase of 14 days to sell a home, with Scotland (16 days) and Yorkshire and the Humber (15 days) also seeing some of the largest increases.

The South West remains largely unchanged, with the time to sell in 2020 increasing by only 1 day so far.

However, when drilling into the data, the figures show that the time to sell has increased notably across many parts of the market.

The City of London has seen the time taken to sell a home increase by a huge 117 days in 2020, up from an average of 197 days to 314. Stirling has seen the second-largest increase and the largest in Scotland, with the time to sell now taking 75 days longer, along with Aberdeenshire with an increase of 58 days. Craven has seen an increase of 58 days, with the Scottish Borders (51 days), Highlands (51 days) and Moray (41 days) also home to some of the largest increases.

Denbighshire has seen the largest increase in the time to sell across Wales at 40 days, while Preston, Midlothian, Wyre, East Renfrewshire, Torbay, West Berkshire, North East Lincolnshire, Three Rivers, North Warwickshire, Salford, Manchester and Tower Hamlets also make the top 20.

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented: “Negative news on the face of it but given the turbulent year we’ve experienced, the time to sell a home was always likely to increase on last year.   Lockdown restrictions stopped the market in its tracks during the spring which would have delayed pretty much every sale already in the pipeline.

“We’ve also seen many cogs of the selling process hit with furlough and redundancies which have reduced their operational capacity and hindered their ability to process transactions at the same speed.

“Finally, despite the market returning to health at a rapid rate, huge levels of buyer demand have overwhelmed the industry and led to even further delays, mostly at the final legal hurdle of a sale.  So the chances are, the time to sell may well continue to climb until the market levels out come March next year, but the good news is, transactions are up, prices are climbing and the market is fighting fit for the year ahead.”

Data shows the time in days to sell a home across each region of Britain and how it has changed vs 2019
Location Average time to sell in 2019 Average time to sell in 2019 Change
West Midlands region 102 119 17
Scotland 125 141 16
Yorkshire and the Humber 125 140 15
East Midlands 108 122 14
South East 124 138 13
East of England 115 128 13
London 147 159 11
Wales 147 157 11
North East 154 164 10
North West 133 141 8
South West 145 146 1
England 126 138 12
Great Britain 129 141 12
Data sourced from GetAgent. Average time to sell is based on transactions completing between January and November of both years to give a like for like comparison.
Data shows the top 20 areas across Britain to have seen the largest increase in the time to sell in 2020
Location Average time to sell in 2019 Average time to sell in 2019 Change
City of London 197 314 117
Stirling 108 183 75
Aberdeenshire 194 252 58
Craven 126 181 54
Scottish Borders 167 218 51
Highland 167 218 51
Moray 162 204 41
Denbighshire 159 199 40
Preston 138 175 37
Midlothian 85 121 36
Wyre 147 182 35
East Renfrewshire 54 89 35
Torbay 139 173 34
West Berkshire 114 148 33
North East Lincolnshire 140 173 33
Three Rivers 118 150 32
North Warwickshire 101 134 32
Salford 75 107 32
Manchester 92 123 31
Tower Hamlets 153 184 31
Data sourced from GetAgent. Average time to sell is based on transactions completing between January and November of both years to give a like for like comparison.

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CazT

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11:56 AM, 3rd December 2020, About 4 years ago

Obfuscated Data

DC

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13:25 PM, 3rd December 2020, About 4 years ago

CazT - I think you may have missed the point as the article states ....from the point of listing online to completion....
Similar to you though, we accepted an offer on one of our BTLs in mid September, within 2 days of instructing the agent and a day or so before it actually went online.
Unfortunately, the buyers allotted solicitor was placed on furlough and the case was not picked up for a further 4 weeks and then we were informed it was 2 more weeks before searches were applied for!
We are now expecting to complete in late January, which could be around the 160 day mark (in East of England - currently averaging 128 days according to the graph above).

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