"With a good mix of southern and northern towns making up the fastest and slowest regions on our list, the north/south divide can’t be used to explain away varying transaction speeds"
- Jason Tebb - OnTheMarket
New research from property portal, OnTheMarket, has tracked the pace of the country’s sales and lettings markets and found that buyers and sellers in Plymouth are the quickest movers across the country.
The waterfront city ranked the fastest location to sell a home with an average transaction time – measured from when a property first goes on the market to an offer being accepted or sold subject to contract – a speedy 32 days.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne came a close second with homes taking on average 35 days to sell, followed by Luton and Bristol in joint third place (both 37 days). Last year’s fastest town, Swindon, slipped to fifth on the list, with the average sale taking 38 days this year compared with 30 a year ago.
Plymouth and Newcastle are the two locations with the largest proportion of homes selling within 30 days with 63% and 62% respectively, compared to 41% of homes in London.
The slowest places to sell a home
Meanwhile, the seaside resort of Blackpool proved to be the slowest sales market with vendors taking on average 62 days, or just over two months, to sell, almost twice as long as in Plymouth.
Slough is the second slowest at 54 days, with London and Rochdale in joint third (both taking 53 days on average), followed by Bournemouth (50 days). They all have the highest proportion of homes taking over 30 days to sell, ranging from 71% to 59% respectively.
Even within a city, there can be substantial differences. In London, known for its various ‘micro markets’, the fastest borough for sales is Bexley, with the average transaction taking 41 days, compared with 70 days in the City of Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, the two slowest boroughs.
Jason Tebb, president of OnTheMarket, says: “With a good mix of southern and northern towns making up the fastest and slowest regions on our list, the north/south divide can’t be used to explain away varying transaction speeds. A combination of regional factors is coming into play including demand, available stock, number of applicants, competition and pricing.”
Rental market
With significant demand for rental property across the country, OnTheMarket’s research also looks at the time it takes to rent a home.
Some rental markets are moving much faster than others, with prospective tenants in Gloucester having to move the quickest as the average property was let within 14 days of being advertised last month, while it took 15 days in Crawley and Mansfield, and 16 days in Cambridge and Aldershot.
Meanwhile, the rental market is moving more slowly in Middlesborough and Gloucester where tenants are taking twice as long to make a decision and properties are renting on average within 29 days. In Burnley and Blackburn, it was 28 days, while Wigan and Leicester were both 27 days on average.
In London, Bexley is not only the fastest borough in which to sell a property, it is also the quickest place to rent, taking an average of 16 days, the quickest across the city. Meanwhile, in the slowest borough, Kensington & Chelsea, it took twice as long – 32 days – with City of Westminster taking a slightly shorter 28 days.
Jason concludes: “The rental market remains highly competitive with some unlucky tenants finding they have very little time to make a decision, particularly if they want to secure a good property at a reasonable price. With more flexibility when it comes to renting rather than buying, it may be worth tenants spreading their net a little further if they are really struggling to find a suitable option in one of the hottest boroughs.”
