New statistics from Quick Move Now and Home.co.uk have shed light on the most and least desirable places to sell a property in the United Kingdom, based on the typical duration properties spend on the market.
Scotland comes out on top, with Glasgow and Edinburgh taking the lead, while many London areas lag behind, underscoring a slowing property market.
In Glasgow, properties typically spend just 36 days on the market with a median asking price of £205,000, making it the fastest-moving location in the UK. It’s followed by Edinburgh, where homes are listed for around 53 days and carry a median price of £328,000. At the opposite end of the spectrum, properties in Soho have the longest listing duration at 210 days, with a staggering median asking price of £2,149,500. Mayfair is the second slowest, with properties sitting for 209.5 days and a median price of £2,325,000.
Danny Luke, Quick Move Now’s managing director, stated that the figures indicate a general deceleration of the property market. “In March this year, the best place to sell had a typical time on market of just 11 days. Now, that figure has increased to 36 days,” he noted.
Several locations such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belgravia, and Chelsea have experienced notable shifts in their market conditions. For example, Glasgow’s average time on the market has gone from 17 days in March to 36 days now. Similarly, Edinburgh’s average has increased from 24 to 53 days. Among the worst places to sell, Belgravia now has an average of 159 days on market, up from 132 days in March, while Chelsea is at 151 days, also up from 132 days in March.
Despite the slower market, Luke emphasized that current figures are still substantially better than pre-pandemic levels. “Before the first Covid lockdown in March 2020, the best place to sell a property had a typical time on market of 46 days, while the worst stood at 249 days. The current figures are now 10 and 39 days quicker, respectively,” he said.
Luke attributed the slowdown to rising mortgage interest rates and inflation, both of which have hampered sales and buyer budgets. However, he remains optimistic about the future. “With the Bank of England suggesting that interest rates are nearing their peak, we expect the market to stabilize by 2024,” he said.
For those looking to sell quickly, Luke advises a thorough understanding of one’s local market and realistic pricing. He also cautioned that the time a property spends on the market is not indicative of the total time to complete a sale. Currently, in England and Wales, it takes an average of five months from the point of accepting an offer to sale completion. Given this unpredictability and the one-in-four rate of property sales falling through before completion, Luke suggests that chain-break services, property auctions, and quick sale companies may gain in popularity for those on tight schedules.
