Zoopla: The fastest and slowest selling areas in the country

If you have moved home recently, have you had a good or bad experience?

Many would probably point to the cost of the whole project as being something that could be better, while several others would suggest that the process from having your offer accepted to taking control of the keys on completion day simply takes too long.

There is a lot of truth in that assertion because, with the additional legal steps (identification verification, anti-money-laundering steps, and various other checks) necessarily enforced by successive governments, the average time has been gradually extended in recent years.

To overcome this perception and the reality, the Government has said it will overhaul the homebuying process in England and Wales so that it becomes faster and slicker. But it's going to take time for the plans to be discussed with key organisations and ratified through Parliament before any meaningful changes are felt.

In the meantime, though, it's useful to look at some of the research that property firms carry out to help inform your decision-making.

The most recent publication comes from property portal Zoopla, which has analysed transaction duration data across the months and highlighted an interesting vagary in the way local housing markets work.

Overall, the length of time to reach completion across the country is 42 days on average, and this hasn't changed over the year. But that average figure covers what is a widening gap between local areas where there have been significant improvements in the time spent between offer acceptance and completion day, and those areas which are worsening.

Zoopla's analysis shows that around half of the local authorities assessed have seen an increase in the number of days it takes to complete the transaction. Further, there are eight local authorities where the time has extended to 60 days or more.

At the top of the slowest-performing areas is Melton in the East Midlands, averaging 76 days, while the fastest-selling area is Falkirk in Scotland, averaging 11 days. Indeed, because of the way the Scottish housing market operates, which is different from that in England and Wales, all ten of the swiftest-selling locations are in Scotland, with tenth-placed Clackmannanshire still averaging 16 days to sell a property.

Source: Zoopla

Whether the necessary overhaul of the homebuying process by the Government will result in significant improvement in these durations, perhaps by looking towards the Scottish model for how it achieves such low selling times, will only be borne out in whatever is eventually delivered. For more on how these patterns have shifted over time, see our earlier look at UK property selling times by region.

However you are approaching your property project, you'll need effective and focused representation to ensure the legal side of things is handled as quickly and efficiently as possible, particularly in locations where the average time taken is especially long. The experience and knowledge brought to the transaction protects you, which is why you should talk to Homeward Legal as soon as possible to get your transaction moving effectively.

Our conveyancers at Homeward Legal will start work on your plans as soon as you agree to the quotation and appoint them to represent you.

Call us now on  to get your conveyancing quote started, or to discuss your concerns about your plans to move.

Or get a quick quote using Homeward Legal's easy-to-use quote generator.