Property sales taking longer to complete

Properties are taking 29% longer to sell once under offer because of conveyancing delays, according to industry data analysed by Movewise.

Hold-ups with property searches and conveyancers dealing with a backlog of cases, have seen the average time to exchange contracts, once an offer has been accepted, increase from 96 to 124 days.

That means any property that went under offer from late November 2020 onwards, will likely struggle to complete in time to beat the stamp duty deadline on March 31.

Across the regions, average time to exchange contracts, once an offer has been made, has increased by 37% in Scotland (from 70 to 96 days) and 32% in the north east (from 87 to 115 days). In London, the average time to exchange has increased by 29%, from 97 to 125 days.

Movewise analysed estate agency data on almost 500,000 property sales across the UK where contracts were exchanged over the past 30 days (one month) and 180 days (six months).

1 February 2021