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North West bucks trend as house sales now taking two weeks longer than a year ago – Zoopla
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Peter TabernerIn England, properties are taking nearly two weeks longer to sell compared to the same period last year, a property website has found.
Research complied by Zoopla showed that sellers have to wait 12 days more to shift their properties compared to a year ago.
Across the Midlands, Wales and Southern England (excluding London), those who wish to move have all seen the time it takes to sell their home increase by almost two weeks this year.
Overall, homes are on the market for an average 34 days before a sale is finally agreed. Two-bed terraced properties are the fastest property type to go, with four-bed detached homes taking the longest amount of time, at an average of 47 days to see a sale.
Liverpool is ‘fastest-moving’ city in the UK
Only nine of 2022’s fastest-moving areas to sell remain in Zoopla’s top 25 list this year, with demand for homes significantly dropping in locations that saw the least house price growth over the last five years.
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Liverpool has been crowned as being the fastest-moving market, with the typical seller agreeing an offer within 17 days, half the UK average.
One-bed flats remain the fastest property type to sell in the city, with an average time of just three weeks due to a relatively low asking price of £105,000.
The North West is the region where selling a house takes the shortest amount of time.
As the second and third fastest moving markets are in Manchester and Salford, where the average time to agree an offer is 21 and 23 days respectively.
Other cities such as Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol, Cardiff and Birmingham have also made it in to the property website’s list of the top 25 fastest-selling markets for the first time since the pandemic.
In London, the market operates at a slower pace, with the borough of Waltham Forest the only area in the capital to be selling faster than the UK average.
Cost of living effecting the market
Izabella Lubowiecka, the senior property researcher at Zoopla said: “Over the last 12 months, the time to agree a sale has increased by almost two weeks. This is due to a few factors: there are fewer buyers in the market alongside cost of living concerns and higher mortgage rates, which has meant many have had to pause a search for their next home.
“However, we are now simply seeing a return to more normal market conditions experienced in the years leading up to the pandemic. Anyone thinking about selling should bear this in mind and be prepared that it may take longer to sell their property than in recent years.”