Homes are selling fastest in Scotland with the nation replacing London as the fastest place for a seller to find a buyer for their home, new figures show.
In 2014, it took 36 days in London on average to secure a buyer, but this rose to 60 days by last year while in Scotland the average time fell from 66 days to 41 days over the same period.
According to the figures compiled by property portal Rightmove for the BBC, the market for flats has slowed amid debate over leasehold rules.
‘Whilst it would be easy to link that with the Brexit vote, there are other factors at play, especially increasingly stretched buyer affordability,’ said Miles Shipside, Rightmove housing market analyst.
He explained that one of those factors is the increasing amount of time taken by the sellers of flats to find a buyer in England and Wales and as a result buyers looking for a property now might be over optimistic if they expected to celebrate Christmas in their new home in England or Wales.
‘This is most noticeable for those buying flats, where conveyancing times have increased from 100 days in 2011 to 123 days in 2018 in England and Wales,’ Shipside pointed out.
‘That means those buyers who have an offer accepted on a flat this month may not complete until the end of the year, especially if they’ll be getting a mortgage,’ he added.
