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If you are thinking about moving home this year, and want to be settled in before Christmas, you may want to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later.
Although Christmas is the last thing you want to think about coming into the summer months, new research suggests that home sellers need to be thinking about the big day in summer, if they want to have moved home in time for Christmas Day. This is because research now indicates they’ll have little more than a month to get their current property on the market if they want to have completed in time for Christmas.
The research shows that currently, the average time it takes to sell a home in the UK is 176 days. This is after extensive analysis of the current time it’s taking to sell a home across the UK in the current market, how this differs regionally and by what point sellers need to have entered the market, to have completed on their purchase, a week before Christmas comes.
When should you put your home on the market?
The deadline to put your home on the market to move home in time for Christmas is 25th June. Although this sounds very far in advance to be thinking about moving home in time for Christmas, if you want to be settled before Christmas day itself (assuming that you’ll want to move in at least a week before) this deadline will give you a desired moving date of 18th December.
How long does moving home take?
Zoopla reports that it currently takes an average of 45 days for a property to go under offer (from listing to sold subject to contract). According to our latest data, this is followed by a further 131 days to reach completion, bringing the total timeline to 176 days.
This means that sellers need to put their home on the market by 25th June in order to, 176 days later, move-in on 18th December.
Moving home in time for Christmas – regional differences
There are regional variations across the UK, meaning that if you live in certain regions, the deadline for listing is even sooner still.
Wales has the longest selling time (57 days) of anywhere in the UK. However, the average sale still takes 176 days due to it having the shortest time to completion (119 days).
London sellers need to be on the market by 8th June; in the South West the deadline is 20th June; while in the South East the deadline is 16th June.
There are, however, some parts of Britain in which sellers have a little more flexibility.
In Scotland, the average selling timeline is just 94 days. This means that to have moved home by 18th December, they don’t need to list their current property until 15th September.
Also, the North East has a total selling time of 159 days which means sellers must be on the market by 12th July.
Can you speed up the process?
Selling a home takes longer than it should, due to a number of factors - how long searches take, completing a survey, getting your mortgage offer in, for example – and all of these impact the time it takes to move, from accepting an offer to completion. Making sure you’re as prepared as you can, and doing things such as getting your mortgage in place and arranging a survey as soon as you can, will all help.
Of course, not all transactions are the same - a cash buyer will likely move quicker, however a longer chain or a leasehold transaction will extend timelines, so you may want to be choosier about who you accept an offer from (as long as this itself does not slow down the process).
The best plan of attack is to understand what’s unique about your home, which conveyancer suits your sale best and just what’s needed from you as a seller at each step of the process. Doing so will ensure you’re legally prepared and your transaction timeline is as short as it can be allowing you to make your move with confidence.
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