Northern Ireland is the best place to move in the UK if you wanted a speedy process, a survey from the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) has revealed.
In the country 52% of transactions were achieved within two months.
The country outperformed Scotland, which the OPDA labelled “surprising”, given that Scotland is often seen as having a superior process to other countries.
In general, the pace of home moves leaves people frustrated across the UK.
On average, it takes three times longer to move house than buyers expect, as 57% expect the process to take two months from offer to exchanging contracts.
In reality it took 46% between three and six months, and a further 16% more than six months.
Maria Harris, chair of OPDA, said: “Our large-scale survey regrettably but predictably confirms what we have long asserted, that homebuying is not the customer centric experience it should be.
“The current process delivers an appallingly slow, unpredictable, and disappointing experience for the majority of home buyers and sellers.
“Buying a home, especially your first, should be a cause for celebration. Instead, it too frequently leaves buyers open to heartbreak and unfulfilled expectations and is not fit for purpose.
“Clearly, customers expect a better homebuying experience and reform is urgently needed to achieve this.”
The highest proportion of people waiting longer than expected was the West Midlands, where nearly 20% of transactions took longer than six months.
This was closely followed by the North-East at 19% of transactions, then East Anglia and the South-West, where over 18% of transactions took that long.
