Scotland has been named as the ‘fastest’ property market, with homes in the country taking half the time to sell than in the rest of the UK.
Analysis by Barclays Mortgages and Hometrack of Zoopla listings revealed properties in general are taking longer to sell this year than they were in 2018.
In fact, the average time taken to sell a home in the UK is 84 days – or 12 weeks – which is nine days longer than in 2018.
But when zoning on specific areas, different stories emerge. Indeed, the data shows Edinburgh and Glasgow have average house selling times of 31 and 39 days respectively – this is 4.4 and 5.5 weeks.
In stark contrast, heading south to the popular cities of London and Brighton, the average time for a property to be snapped up soars to 107 and 92 days respectively.
Improving sales times
And while many of the UK markets were seeing sales times increase since last year, the study identified the areas where things were improving.
Indeed, in Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Cardiff and Wolverhampton, properties spent less time on average on the market this year than they did in 2018.
Arming buyers with knowledge
Barclays has compiled the data to help buyers – especially first-time buyers – navigate the market and become more knowledgeable when embarking on home buying process.
Hannah Bernard, head of mortgages at Barclays, explained: “Our research not only shows the changes in the market over the past year, but also acts as a predictor to what we might be able to expect in the months to come.”
She added: “By looking at the time of sale, prospective buyers and sellers can have a better overall knowledge of the time it may take to sell their home and where in the UK the changes are.
“Our aim is to make sure customers are confident in the decisions they make as well as aware and prepared for the financial implications associated with moving home.”
Barclays said it does its best to accelerate the homebuying process by offering ‘speedy’ home mortgage applications, averaging 11 days to process.
Regional table showing average time to sell a property (Source: Hometrack)
| Region | Time to sell in days (weeks)
(July 2019) |
Time to sell in days (weeks)
(July 2018) |
Year-on-Year difference in days (weeks) | |||
| Great Britain | 84 | (12.0) | 75 | (10.7) | 9 | (+1.3) |
| Edinburgh | 31 | (4.4) | 26 | (3.7) | 5 | (+0.7) |
| Glasgow | 39 | (5.5) | 33 | (4.7) | 6 | (+0.8) |
| Birmingham | 59 | (8.4) | 58 | (8.3) | 1 | (+0.1) |
| Leeds | 59 | (8.4) | 53 | (7.6) | 6 | (+0.8) |
| Wolverhampton | 59 | (8.4) | 64 | (9.2) | -5 | (-0.8) |
| Cardiff | 60 | (8.5) | 66 | (9.4) | -6 | (-0.9) |
| Nottingham | 60 | (8.5) | 47 | 6.7) | 13 | (+1.8) |
| Hull | 62 | (8.9) | 44 | 6.3) | 18 | (+2.6) |
| Manchester | 62 | (8.9) | 60 | (8.5) | 2 | (+0.4) |
| Liverpool | 63 | (9.0) | 76 | (10.9 | -13 | (-1.9) |
| Sheffield | 64 | (9.2) | 64 | (9.1) | 0 | (+0.1) |
| Swansea | 64 | (9.2) | 61 | (8.7) | 3 | (+0.5) |
| Bristol | 66 | (9.4) | 55 | (7.9) | 11 | (+1.5) |
| Newcastle | 82 | (11.7) | 101 | (14.4) | -19 | (-2.7) |
| Bradford | 88 | (12.6) | 92 | (13.2) | -4 | (-0.6) |
| Brighton | 92 | (13.1) | 80 | (11.4) | 12 | (+1.7) |
| Derby | 99 | (14.1) | 65 | (9.3) | 34 | (+4.8) |
| Sunderland | 104 | (14.8) | 91 | (13.0) | 13 | (+1.8) |
| London | 107 | (15.3) | 95 | (13.6) | 12 | (+1.7) |
| Middlesbrough | 114 | (16.3) | 130 | (18.5) | -16 | (-2.2) |
N.B. data was supplied in weeks, days are approximate.
