Time to Sell: Average UK Property now sells 11 days faster than last year

- The North-South property market divide is showing signs of dissolving as the Northern property markets heat up

- The average time it takes to sell a property in the UK is currently 58 days – 11 days less than the same period last year
- Liverpool and Southend-on-Sea properties spend the least amount of time on the market (beating London) with Hull and Leicester being the slowest performers
- Whilst some regions, such as Plymouth, Brighton, Bristol and Derby, are not yet seeing robust growth in house prices, falling average times to sell a property points to improving market conditions in these areas

On average it now takes just over eight weeks (58 days) to sell a home in the UK - 11 days less than one year ago - according to a new ‘City Rate of Sale’ report by Post Office Mortgages.

London remains the best performing property market, but its performance overshadows a strong recovery occurring in many other areas, particularly cities outside the South East of England.

Property owners in Birmingham especially have been benefiting from improved market conditions. Over the last year they have experienced on average a 16% fall in the time it takes to sell their home and a 2.6% rise in price.

Some Northern cities such as Liverpool, Sheffield and Manchester are also showing signs of improvement despite slow price growth. The average time a property spends on the market in the North West for example has fallen from 90 days to 62 days over the last 12 months – indicating that demand for homes in this region is firming. Liverpool in particular is recovering well, with properties in this part of the country currently only needing an average of 18 days to be sold – down a whopping 63% from last year and a whole two weeks less than London.

Elsewhere in England, cities including Plymouth, Brighton, Bristol and Derby, have seen falls greater than 15% in their rate of sale. Even though some of these markets have not yet seen robust price growth, the falling average time to sell a property in these markets points to improving conditions.

However a number of cities have yet to show signs of a rebound in their housing markets. Swansea and Leicester for instance are both experiencing the double whammy of negative price growth and a lengthening of time it takes to sell a property.

The outlook for Hull is particularly gloomy. Over the last year homeowners in the city have experienced a 2% decrease in property prices and a staggering 240% rise in the time it takes to sell. It now takes homeowners in Hull a full 80 days more to sell a property than homeowners in London - nearly a quarter of a year.

Table 1: Regional table showing average time to sell a property and the percentage change year on year (YoY)

The Post Office Rate of Sale report was created in partnership with the Cebr using the latest available data from the Hometrack National Housing Survey and the Land Registry House Price Index. The report covers properties in England and Wales, with comparable data for Scotland unavailable.

In August 2012 Post Office introduced Mortgage Specialists into a number of its larger branches in the UK. The Mortgage Specialists are able to discuss each individual’s needs and answer questions to help customers make an informed decision about the suitability of the products. In addition, the majority of customers will be able to get a decision in principle within minutes. First time buyers, those wishing to move, or customers looking to switch to a better deal will be able to book a free, no-obligation appointment in selected branches.

Post Office Limited has an unrivalled national network of over 11,500 branches across the UK, more than all the high street banks combined, and sits at the heart of many communities across the country. The Post Office has made a commitment to no more branch closure programmes. It provides around 170 different services and products spanning financial services including savings, insurance, loans, mortgages and credit cards. Post Office also offers Government services; telephony; foreign currency; travel insurance and mail services.

It serves around 20 million customers a week and half of all small businesses. 93% of the total population live within one mile of a post office and 99.7% within three miles. For many rural communities the post office is the only retail outlet. Post offices remain highly valued and trusted and are the focal point for many communities. For more information, visit www.postoffice.co.uk

Post Office mortgages in 2012 have won the following awards from What Mortgage magazine – Best fixed Rate Provider and Best Online Lender for the third year, and recently have also received Best Online Lender from Your Mortgage for the fourth year running.

Post Office Mortgages are offered in partnership with Bank of Ireland UK. Bank of Ireland UK has been the exclusive partner to the Post Office for the provision of financial services and products since 2003. The partners’ venture has become one of the UK’s fastest growing financial service providers with almost three million customers and a savings book of £18 billion.

Bank of Ireland has supported customers in the UK for many decades. Bank of Ireland UK plc, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Ireland Group, separately incorporated and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Activities related to the Post Office partnership are conducted within this entity and as such, all retail deposits up to £85,000 with the Post Office are protected under the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme and ring-fenced in the UK. At 31 December 2012 Bank of Ireland (UK) plc had a loan to deposit ratio of 77% with customer deposits of £23.3 billion utilised to fund customer lending of £18 billion (primarily comprising £12.6 billion of UK residential mortgages). In November 2010, in the UK Government's report 'Securing the Post Office network in the digital age', Bank of Ireland UK received the explicit support of the Coalition Government for its continued partnership with the Post Office.

Contact - Carmel McCarthy