Homes now taking a week longer to sell, report finds

Homes are taking on average a week longer to sell than they did a year ago, according to a new analysis.

Sellers typically face a 102day wait before their property is bought, the report from Post Office Money found, following an analysis of towns and cities across the UK.

That is six days longer than in 2017.

In Plymouth – the only South West location analysed – the average home sells in 84 days.

Properties sell quickest in Edinburgh (39 days) while Blackpool is bottom of the table on 131 days with London almost as slow at 126 days.

Meanwhile a separate survey suggests that consumers are more likely to think house prices will increase by the end of 2019 than are property professionals.

A general survey of people across Britain found more than half (55%) expected house prices in the area where they live to rise, property website Zoopla found. This compares with a third (33%) of estate and letting agents separately surveyed who predicted house prices would increase over the same period.

In the South West, the proportion of optimistic consumers matches the national average at 55%. There was no separate figure for estate agents in the region. One estate in the South West said much of the delay could be accounted for by changes in rules and regulations.

“I am not at all surprised by this,” said Mark Willson, managing director of H Tiddy, based in St Mawes in Cornwall. “We had GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] come in and before that the anti money laundering and counter terrorism financing regulations came in.

“All estate agents have to ask buyers for proof of funding, proof of ID and proof of address. to make sure they are not a Russian bringing money into this country to be laundered.

“From the moment a sale is agreed to the instruction of solicitors that process can take four or five days.”

Mr Willson said the rules were “a good thing” as they helped make sure that all buyers had their funds in place. “Typically sales are taking 12 weeks or so,” he said. “Historically they were six to eight weeks.”

‘Sales take 12 weeks. Historically they were six to eight’

Estate agent Mark Willson

The average home takes six days longer to sell today than it did in 2017