"This highlights just how protracted the property selling process is, with the remaining 4,193 hours consumed by admin, the back and forth of offers submitted, survey requirements, chain delays, fall throughs and further negotiations"
- Jason Harris-Cohen - Open Property Group
The latest market insight from quick sale specialists, Open Property Group, has revealed the average seller had to entertain six (6.34) different buyers before securing an offer on their property.
On average, each buyer viewed their property three times (3.23) during the viewing process, with each viewing lasting an average of 22 minutes (22.04).
This means that the average seller has to host no less than 19 (18.9) viewings and dedicate 415.8 minutes, or 6.93 hours, to the viewing of their home before they secure an offer.
When asked about the biggest inconveniences posed by the viewings process, having to keep the house presentable ranked top.
Short notice cancellations were also one of the biggest issues faced and while seven hours may not seem like long, having to make themselves available for 19 separate viewings over the course of their sale ranked as one of the biggest inconveniences for sellers.
Invasion of privacy and having to hide valuable items from plain site completed the top five.
In fact, for 21% of sellers, the viewing process ranked as the most annoying aspect of the home selling process.
What’s more, 27% of those surveyed said that they would be more inclined to sell their home in the future if they didn’t have to go through the viewing process.
CEO of Open Property Group, Jason Harris-Cohen, commented: “It’s estimated that from initial listing to completion, the average home takes 25 weeks to sell - that’s 4,200 hours.
"Even in current market conditions where buyer demand levels have dropped, just seven of those hours are required to tackle the viewing process and secure an offer.
"This highlights just how protracted the property selling process is, with the remaining 4,193 hours consumed by admin, the back and forth of offers submitted, survey requirements, chain delays, fall throughs and further negotiations.
"And while it may take just seven hours to tackle the viewing process, this is an inconvenience in itself, with sellers having to make themselves available for multiple buyers wanting multiple viewings, across numerous days and weeks.
"So it’s hardly surprising that one in five find the viewing process the most annoying aspect of selling their home and over a quarter would move more often if they could remove it altogether.”
