Slow scene: time taken to sell a London home jumps by two weeks as a third of sales fall through within seven days

It takes more than three weeks longer to sell a home in London than in the rest of the country. 
Daniel Lynch
Anna White23 November 2018

It's taking frustrated vendors in London 126 days to sell their home, two weeks longer than this time last year.

This agonising period between offer and completion is 24 days longer than the national average with uncertainty over Brexit being felt keenly in the capital's housing market.

A new study from the Post Office and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, published this morning, shows that Londoners endured the second slowest sales rate in the country, beaten only by sellers in Blackpool.

Of the 35 cities analysed, properties sell the fastest in Edinburgh and Glasgow with homes spending just 39 and 48 days on the market respectively.

Both Scottish cities are relatively affordable when compared to the rest of the UK. There has also been strong population growth driving increased demand with supply more or less unchanged.

Despite a similarly burgeoning population in London, years of double-digit house price growth has propelled the average property to £486,304 putting home ownership out of reach for many and stifling sales.

Even after an offer has been made, over one third of sellers (35 per cent) see their deal fall through in the first week of talks. For just under half (43 per cent) the sale collapses within four weeks.

“Most people know that getting an offer on your home is only the first hurdle in the process of selling your property," says Steve Dawkins, spokesperson for the property-tech firm Gazeal.

He claims 65 per cent of buyers and sellers worry about whether they will make it to completion after an offer is accepted.

The combination of savers scrabbling a deposit together with stringent lending and slow wage growth has made the sales process much tougher in London.

UK house prices: how does your region compare? (September 2018)

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Russell Quirk, founder of online estate agent eMoov, blames the complex chain: "A typical success rate of two thirds with one third failing is not uncommon. When you consider the multiple parties in the transaction (agents, lawyers, brokers, surveyors and lenders) it's not surprising the chain is so fragile.

"Coupled with a draconian legal system that doesn't bind people into the transaction until the very end, anxiety and wasted costs will prevail," he adds.

Recent research by the Treasury showed that consumers across Britain were spending £270 million a year on failed sales.

Luxury properties are taking even longer to sell according to the report. Homes with a price tag over £1 million take 171 days on average to shift in the capital, whereas cheaper properties take 99 days.

The hike in stamp duty introduced by the former Chancellor George Osborne in 2014, combined with the economic uncertainty caused by Brexit, has made buyers at the top end of the property market nervous.

According to Becky Fatemi, founder of Rokstone Properties in central London, the more expensive the home, the more complex the process.

"At the top end of the market most buyers are purchasing through a corporate structure or trust, both of which take time to set up. The banks are also far more diligent about lending at this level meaning it can take around three months to seal the deal."

The collapse rate of transactions when the home is worth over £7 million has been around 70 per cent of late, she continues, as buyers and their advisers try and negotiate the price down.

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