The research from the property portal found that the average time from a sale being agreed to the purchase completing has moved from 154 days back in July to 127 days in October. It argued that the smaller pipelines seen since the summer, and the passing of the first stamp duty holiday deadline, has helped to speed up moves.
Rightmove pointed to the fact that 550,000 transactions are currently going through the legal process, compared to 700,000 back in June. Nonetheless this is still more than 160,000 higher than the transaction levels seen in October 2019, demonstrating the heightened activity levels for this time of year.
Rightmove predicted that based on the average time to complete a sale, around 300,000 of those home moves currently in the legal stages will complete in time for Christmas. This would mean that by the end of the year 1.5m homes would have been sold across Great Britain, a jump of 47 per cent on 2020 and the highest total since 2007.
Tim Bannister, director of property data at Rightmove, said that it was welcome for those moving home right now that they would likely see quicker conveyancing times than those earlier this year, though warned there would likely be a “conveyancing rush” in December among those hoping to complete in time for the festive season.
He continued: “Demand is still remarkably strong for the time of year and sales are up on this time in 2019, and it seems there’s a new group of people in the market. Some are considering if they need to be near a station to commute to work, there are down-sizers realising now is a good time to cash in, and first-time buyers have a renewed energy to find their perfect place in busy towns and cities.
“Sellers thinking about making 2022 their year to move should be starting to get ready to sell, as if they get going now they could be in their new home before spring next year.”
