At the weekend, I managed an open house for one of my clients, whereby one of the viewers expressed an urgency to complete the transaction within 2 months due to job relocation.

I had to attempt to explain that, gone are the days where a transaction, especially one in a chain, is completing within 8 weeks.

The average time for a property purchase to complete, from offer accepted to completion is now 133 days (4.3 months).

Yes... you read that correctly.

That is 60% longer, than a decade ago, according to Landmark Information Group.

We are experiencing this to be a little longer still, where there are chains involved - as the time for homeowners in the chain to secure a property is taking much longer, due to the competitiveness in the market place along with a lack of properties coming to market plus... from a conveyancing standpoint, there is bureaucracy, long winded legal procedures, council red tape and a shortage of lawyers and conveyancers - many of whom are still working from home. All in all, causing the process to become elongated.

At present, we cannot do much more than manage expectations at the earliest opportunity and make buyers and sellers aware of the time transactions are taking to go through.

I'm sure that, in time, you will find solutions come to the market, whether that be new technologies or systems that are introduced to assist with certain aspects of the process, only time will tell I guess.

For now, if you are thinking of moving in the near future or need to apply for schooling, job relocation etc my advice, would be to give yourself at least 6 months at a minimum, in order to fully move - to allow for finding a buyer on your home, finding a new home and the legal process too.

If you would like any advice with when might be the best time to get your home on the market, if you are hoping to meet a certain deadline, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.

Thanks for reading and have a great day,

Aaron

Managing Director