New transaction tracker reveals sales taking 15 weeks...

Property sales are currently taking 15 weeks on average to complete, new research claims.

Challenger portal and property platform OneDome has launched a new HomeBuying Speed Index to track how long transactions are taking.

The index is called the OneDome HomeBuying Speed Index and is calculated as the average time it takes between the day when a property is marked as sold subject to contract (SSTC) on the major portals and the registration of that property with the Land Registry.

OneDome aims to regularly publish the five quickest and five slowest areas in the UK for property transactions.

It is hoped that by highlighting this issue, the industry will focus its attention on ways to speed up the process.

Based on OneDome’s accumulated data, the current OneDome HomeBuying Speed Index for the second quarter of 2022 is 15 weeks.

5 SLOWEST PLACES IN ENGLAND & WALES	TIME (in days)
Southampton	120
Bristol, City of	119
Central Bedfordshire	118
Newport	116
Derby	116

5 QUICKEST PLACES IN ENGLAND & WALES	TIME (in days)
North East Lincolnshire	79
Kensington and Chelsea	84
Blackpool	86
Hammersmith and Fulham	86
Westminster	87

Sales in the slowest areas – including Southampton and Bristol - are talking almost four months and the quickest – lead by North East Lincolnshire - just under two and a half.

Babek Ismayil, founder ofOneDome, said: “We have seen a slight improvement in the OneDome HomeBuying Speed Index in the second quarter but 15 weeks on average is still a very long time and it is just an indication that the homebuying process is broken and needs to be fixed.

“The cost to consumers and businesses is just unacceptable. We need to stop complaining about it and start acting. At OneDome, we have proven that a transaction can happen in under seven to eight weeks on a consistent basis once all parties are properly engaged."