Online tool reveals average house selling times in the UK

Everyone knows that there are desirable property hotspots around the UK where homes sell really quickly. Major cities and the South East take the lead, though each suburb, town and village also has its own micro-hotspot. But in which areas of the country do homes sell fastest? And could knowing this in advance affect how you deal with the pressure of selling your home, and could it even save you money by allowing you to hold your nerve just that bit longer before considering a drop in price?

A new online tool developed by windows furnishing company Thomas Sanderson called Property Sell-by Dates could be the answer. Designed to help sellers – and their potential buyers – see how long it takes to sell a home in any given area much more easily, it offers a good overview of what you might expect when putting your house on the market. 

To use it, simply input a postcode, or a town name, and the tool will gather the necessary data from property websites, showing you how long house sales take in the chosen location. There is also a comparison function, which lets you see how the chosen area performs compared to the rest of the UK. 

So, which are the areas where properties sell as speedily as hot cakes? They are:

•  Haslemere, South East (42 days to sell a home) 
•  Mexborough, Yorkshire and the Humberside (44 days) 
•  Oldbury, West Midlands (47.5 days) 
•  Cottingham, Yorkshire and the Humberside (50.5 days) 
•  Alford, East Midlands (52.5 days) 

Even more intriguing, three out of the five UK postcodes where homes sell quickest were in Liverpool, with the other two in Sheffield and Birmingham. By contrast, Cumbria occupied two spots among postcodes where home sell the slowest (averages of 435 and 608 days), while London's Wembley and Southall were among the 'slowest' location searches, with a house in Wembley taking a very long average of 557 days to sell. 

There are many potential explanations for these figures, since so many things can affect how quickly a property is sold. The desirability of the location is only one aspect of this multi-faceted process; other factors that affect the speed of a house sale are:

• How many cash buyers there are in the area: do other homeowners in this location all come from long and complicated property chains?
• Its price: if yours is over-priced, it will linger on the market.  
• The quality of local estate agents: is there good choice of experienced estate agents who will speed up the sale of the property?
• Are properties in the area in good condition and well-presented, making them desirable for people looking to move in quickly without needing to undertake costly renovations?
• Is your house not selling because it's poorly presented? You might find our tips for selling a house quickly useful if so.