OnTheMarket: Experienced agents key to selling homes in ‘magic 30-day window’

Buyers and sellers remain confident about getting moving in the property market but homes are taking longer to shift, OnTheMarket data shows.

The portal’s latest property sentiment index revealed that 71% of active buyers were confident that they’d purchase a property within the next three months during March, compared with 69% in February. 

Meanwhile, 63% of sellers in the UK were confident that they would sell their property within the next three months, slightly up on the 62% from a month before.

There are some regional variations when it comes to the market, with seller confidence in the East of England falling from 65% in February to 60% in March, while seller confidence also slipped in Wales, from 64% to 59%. 

However, in the South East, confidence rose with 64% of sellers confident of a sale within three months in March compared with 59% in February.

Looking at sales, 45% of all properties were sold subject to contract (SSTC) within 30 days of first being advertised for sale in March, OnTheMarket said.

While this number is down on the same period last year when the figure was 64%, the portal said the market is very different “as it continues to rebalance in a measured way.”
The number of homes reaching the SSTC stage after 60 days also increased from 13% in February to 19% in March.

Jason Tebb, chief executive of OnTheMarket, said: “On the whole, it seems to be more like business as usual for the market as we head into spring. As the sun makes a more regular appearance, more properties are coming to market looking their best, and there’s growing expectation as to what the next few months have in store.

“There is, however, still a need to be cautious; motivated sellers must not get carried away, but be realistic in their pricing and listen to the advice of a professional local agent, particularly if they’re keen to sell within that magic 30-day window. With buyers and sellers seemingly increasingly confident, there is plenty to be positive about.”