The average number of days to sell your home in the UK now stands at 205 – the first time the 200-day mark has been broken.
The longest time to sell is in inner London and the South-East at 222 days, closely followed by outer London at 221 days. The North-East is the best performing region in England and Wales at 177 days while Scotland records the shortest time at an average of 145 days.
The research was carried out by TwentyEA, the property market data specialists, on behalf of Cavendish estate agents in Cheshire and North Wales.
The 205-day average breaks down as 80 days from instructing an agent to achieving Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC) and a further 125 days from SSTC to completion. This is an increase of 10 days when comparing January to May 2025 with the same timeframe in 2024.
David Adams, managing director of Cavendish, said: “In pretty much every region of the UK, the time to sell your home has gone up with the UK average increasing from 195 days in 2024 to 205 days in 2025.
“This data demonstrates more than ever the importance of being as prepared as possible before you launch your property on to the market.
“Based on an average time of 205 days, most people hoping to give themselves a present of a new home by Christmas will probably have to think again.
“Having said that, there are lots of ways in which home sellers can put themselves in pole position to beat the national average, but they need to put the hard yards in well before listing. You need to treat selling your home like a military operation.
“Speed to market does not equal speed to sale. Far better delaying for a couple of weeks to get everything in order rather than rushing to get online within hours of you instructing your estate agent.
“Crucially, when choosing your estate agent to sell your home, make sure to ask them what their selling record is. What percentage of homes do they successfully sell, how many go for asking price or better and how long on average to sell.”
Vast numbers of conveyancers now take 12-16 weeks.
Yet many target their own work as exchange ready within 3 weeks or less. Use them.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
It’s nothing to do with how good the estate agent is, it’s to do with the completely useless system we have in place for the conveyancing process.
How on earth can it take 16 weeks to do the conveyancing of a property, 16 weeks! We have won wars in less time.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Sadly, this is not surprising. In a meeting yesterday I asked a property related firm what were the main reasons that they saw for transactions failing, and in no order of importance;
– a sensitive mortgage market, where due to elongated timescales mortgage deals are withdrawn.
– buyer remorse, the longer the transaction takes people pull out.
– for older properties the perceived/real difference in valuation between sellers and buyers, and where a survey has taken place and an issue(s) is found leads to a greater divide between the parties.
– the logistics of it all, people just get fed up.
– less savvy buyers, including older people who haven’t sold/bought in 30 years, the hassle of it all.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
It would be interesting to see a Freehold versus Leasehold breakdown to see whether LH transactions times have increased the most, and if that’s affecting the overall statistic.
With reference to “the completely useless system we have in place for the conveyancing process”.
A recently compiled list (not my list, and far from comprehensive) of some of the issues conveyancers face goes, like this:
• Email and phone call interruptions
• Increasing compliance
• ID, SoF, SoW
• Clients withholding gift information
• LISA, HTB, ISA
• Referral fees
• Management companies/landlords
• Lack of public understanding
• Caping ground rents
• Abolishing Deeds of Covenant
• Ending the HA 1988 loophole
• Having definitive timescales relating to planning, building regs and covenant consents for extensions
• Getting clients sale ready and instructing a conveyancer within 48 hours of marketing
• Better conveyancer training when young and inexperienced
• Higher charges, lower caseloads
• Defective leases
• Lack of Easements
• Deeds of Variations
• HMLR delays (now improving)
• Long chains
• Increased lender requirements
• The Building Safety Act
At the recent Bold Legal Group Conveyancing Conference, I asked about 200 conveyancers, if they had known then what they know now about being a conveyancer, would they still have chosen it as a career, only 10 indicated they would. Read into that what you like.
However, on a slightly brighter note a new guidance document has been produced with a view to eliminating some of the unnecessary enquires that are being raised. It is called GRACE (Guidance for raising appropriate conveyancing enquiries). If anyone would like a copy (V2 will be released in a few weeks’ time), please email me: rh@boldgroup.co.uk
Finally, I (the Bold Legal Group) will be holding a series of UK roadshows later this year, agents (and others) are welcome (nay, invited!) to join in. The wording below is what I recently sent to the BLG membership. If you want to take part in the roadshows, you have my email address.
“Over the past two decades (and longer), countless initiatives have tried to improve the home moving process in England and Wales. Some failed. Others have made and are making some progress. But too often, these efforts have been led by the same familiar names but rarely joined in any significant numbers by the professionals actually doing the work at the front line. That needs to change!
Later this year we will be hitting the road, and we will be hosting a series of regional roadshows across England and Wales— because it’s you, the experts, that the powers that be should be hearing from.”
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register
Time kills all deals…
There can’t be an industry more ripe for AI and automation than Estate Agency and Conveyancing.
You must be logged in to like or dislike this comments.
Click to login
Don't have an account? Click here to register