NEW research shows that the amount of time it takes to sell a home has reduced in Reading by more than two months, and a month in Wokingham.
The property hotspots show demand continues to be strong.
In Reading, between February and July last year, it took an average of 282 days to sell, while from August to January this year, that dropped to 212, a reduction of 70 days.
And in Wokingham, it took an average of 289 days. This dropped to 260, a reduction of 30 days.
Getagent.co.uk found that the average time to sell a home over the last six months is currently 248 days, down from an average of 306 days during the previous six months – a drop of 58 days.
Regionally, the North East is home to the longest average time to sell at 284 days, followed by London (277) and the East of England (259).
The West Midlands (213 days), Wales (225) and Yorkshire and the Humber (228) are home to the quickest transaction timelines.
At local level, Dartford and the Castle Point area of Essex are currently home to the quickest time to sell a home at just 142 days on average; South Lakeland is the most lethargic pocket of the property market with the average home taking 582 days to sell in current market.
GetAgent tracked the average time to sell a home across England and Wales based on the point at which a property is listed for sale and the point at which this sale completes.
The company’s founder and CEOk, Colby Short, said the pandemic presented a perfect storm to delay sales including an initial lockdown, before the stamp duty holiday led to a rise in demand.
“When you factor in the archaic legal process that hampers transactions at the best of times, the outcome was only ever going to be a considerable build up in sales waiting to complete and huge delays to the time it takes to sell,” he said.
“It certainly looks as though we’ve turned a corner and, while it would be inaccurate to say homes are selling particularly fast in the current market, the time it’s taking to sell has certainly dropped and by quite some margin in some areas.”
