Edinburgh and Glasgow properties sell faster than rest of UK

The average UK property takes 96 days to sell, according to the latest City Rate of Sale report from Post Office Money, compared to 41 and 50 days in Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively.

The report, developed with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), examines the average time a property takes to sell in more than 20 major cities across the UK.

Cities in the west of the UK were more likely to see a longer wait, with residences in Liverpool and Belfast typically taking over 100 days (112 and 119 respectively) to sell.

Owen Woodley, managing director of Post Office Money, said: “Against a backdrop of muted but steady increases in house prices across the country and sustained demand from the FTB market, these movements in time to sell reflect the changes in the number of properties listed for sale in cities across the UK.

“We know from previous research that first time buyers are taking a flexible approach to finding an affordable home, most especially towards location. Second Steppers in contrast, have less flexibility as they are specifically looking to move to a new area (39 per cent) or a bigger property (35 per cent).

“Therefore, on the whole across the UK, the number of houses on the market has fallen because those looking to trade up are struggling to find good properties at acceptable prices. This is likely to become a growing issue as buyers are more likely to wait out the current market until price growth returns more forcefully.”

Edinburgh and Stoke on Trent have seen the biggest fall in the time properties spend on the market – despite the fact that they are opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of house price growth.

The Edinburgh housing market has become increasingly competitive in recent years, and a lack of new buildings is responsible for the fall in time on market and increase in prices. Edinburgh has also seen prices rise by 10.4 per cent over the past year, well above the 3.9 per cent growth for Scotland as a whole.

Stoke-On-Trent, meanwhile, is a hotspot for FTBs; this has stimulated demand for houses priced under £250,000 and reduced the time on the market. However, competition has not increased so much for more expensive properties, as a number of newly built properties in the area have increased supply, this has placed downward pressure on prices. Homes in Stoke-on-Trent increased by only 0.9 per cent in value, the smallest increase of any major city in the UK.