"As the days get shorter and nights draw in, agents are going to have less time each day to conduct viewings which is going to have an inevitable impact on the time it takes to sell a home"
- Gemma Young - Moverly
Moverly analysed time-to-sell data on the UK housing market to see how the amount of time it takes to sell a home is impacted by the time of year.
Autumn is the slowest time of year to sell a home
The research shows that it’s bad news for those currently trying to sell their home, as the Autumn months of September, October and November have the longest average time to sell of all seasons at 73.3 days.
What’s more, at an average of 75 days, October and November boast the highest time to sell of all months of the year.
Hours of daylight play a factor
It’s important to note that the time it takes to sell a home is impacted by the number of daylight hours available throughout the seasons.
In fact, the analysis by Moverly shows that come this weekend when the clocks go back, home sellers could see the time it takes to sell their home increase further.
The figures show that during British Daylight Saving Time between the end of March and end of October, the average time to sell a home sits at 63.1 days.
During spring and summer months, late sunsets mean long evenings of daylight, peaking in June when the average sunset time is 9:21pm. This gives homebuyers a lot of time on weekdays to view properties after their day to day commitments have been taken care of.
But when the evenings draw in during autumn and into winter, these evening daylight hours fade away until hitting a low in December when the average sunset time is 3:53pm.
Because buyers are reluctant to view homes in the dark, early sunsets mean that viewings which would take place during the week have to be pushed to the weekend, which has an inevitable impact on the time taken for a property to sell.
When the clocks go back at the end of this month, the average sunset time is going to fall from October's average of 6:08 pm to November’s average of 4:12 pm.
As a result, once the clocks go back, the average time to sell a home climbs to 66.2 days versus 63.1 days during Daylight Saving Time.
Gemma Young, Moverly CEO, comments: “As the days get shorter and nights draw in, agents are going to have less time each day to conduct viewings which is going to have an inevitable impact on the time it takes to sell a home.
"But as we enter into this winter, and particularly the new year, falling interest rates could result in a big increase in market activity. So agents will be handling more clients while having less time to operate.
"To combat this friction, agents and solicitors are able to make use of tech solutions that can expedite many of the slowest parts of the selling process.
"At the top of this list is the conveyancing process – historically the more protracted phase of selling – which can be sped up significantly by providing prospective buyers with material information up front, allowing for a more streamlined approach to selling a home.”
