How long will it take for our property to go under offer once we put it on the market? We wish we had the answer to this burning question, and we are sure property investors and estate agents alike would pay a premium for this knowledge! House sales would certainly be a lot more predictable and we’d be able to plan our sale and next purchase with ease if we had this data at our fingertips. Although we don’t have a magic crystal ball to tell us what the future holds, we can, at least, now make an educated guess based on fresh statistics from property portal Zoopla, which has a compiled a list of the top 10 fastest (and slowest) towns and regions to go under offer. Let’s take a look at the numbers.
The top 10 British towns to go under offer
Buyers looking to purchase a property in Scotland had better get their skates on because, according to Zoopla’s latest research, Britain’s northern land of lochs, folklore and legend is home to four of the nation’s fastest towns to secure an offer. In fact, Falkirk and Edinburgh secured joint top spot in the Zoopla league table averaging just 27 days for properties listed for sale on the website to secure an offer; these locations were closely followed by runners up Glasgow (31 days) and Stirling (32 days), while Cardiff and Coventry secured a respectable joint fifth place in the table with average offers being secured in just 37 days.
10 fastest moving markets in Britain
| Rank | Town | Average days to secure an offer | Average property value (May 2019) |
| 1 | Falkirk | 27 | £154,579 |
| 2 | Edinburgh | 27 | £298,575 |
| 3 | Glasgow | 31 | £186,705 |
| 4 | Stirling | 32 | £222,736 |
| 5 | Cardiff | 37 | £255,528 |
| 6 | Coventry | 37 | £215,909 |
| 7 | Newport | 40 | £187,842 |
| 8 | Nottingham | 41 | £207,456 |
| 9 | Birmingham | 41 | £207,474 |
| 10 | Mansfield | 42 | £156,763 |
Source: Zoopla May 2019
The slower movers and shakers
At the bottom end of the table, which analysed all the ‘for sale’ listings published on the Zoopla website over a period of a year between April 2018 and April 2019, was Blackpool where it typically took 71 days for properties to go under offer – only one day slower than London sale statistics. We suspect affordability is likely to have played a key part in part in these poor London figures, as average house prices were a whopping £659,660 versus a modest £154,579 for the top of the leader-board town Falkirk.
10 slowest-moving markets in Britain
| Rank | Town | Average days to secure an offer | Average property value (May 2019) |
| 1 | Blackpool | 71 | £122,306 |
| 2 | London | 70 | £659,660 |
| 3 | Newcastle Upon-Tyne | 68 | £209,693 |
| 4 | Hemel Hempstead | 65 | £392,879 |
| 5 | Bradford | 64 | £135,798 |
| 6 | Reading | 64 | £430,006 |
| 7 | Preston | 63 | £191,628 |
| 8 | Telford | 62 | £178,444 |
| 9 | Doncaster | 60 | £162,012 |
| 10 | Swansea | 59 | £180,239 |
Source: Zoopla May 2019
Despite widespread reports of a ‘subdued’ housing market, Brits may be surprised to learn that nationwide it took an average of just 56 days for properties to secure a buyer from the date they were first listed for sale.
On a regional level, Scotland and the West Midlands boasted the speediest property markets with the average ‘for sale’ listings going under offer in 42 and 46 days respectfully.
The property website also analysed home sales in the top 50 biggest towns to identify the most commonly sold property type and average price in each location. For example, the most commonly sold property type in Birmingham was a three-bedroom semi-detached property with an average price of £209,725, and in Milton Keynes, a three-bedroom terraced house selling for an average of £255,119 was the most commonly purchased, while in London, two-bedroom flats, with an average price of £610,439, topped the list.
Most common property type sold by location
| Town/city | Most common property type sold | Avg selling price of most common property type sold |
| London | 2-Flat | £610,439 |
| Glasgow | 2-Flat | £121,391 |
| Edinburgh | 2-Flat | £204,603 |
| Liverpool | 3-Terraced | £116,871 |
| Birmingham | 3-Semi | £209,725 |
| Manchester | 3-Semi | £196,514 |
| Nottingham | 3-Semi | £176,173 |
| Swansea | 3-Semi | £165,141 |
| Leicester | 3-Semi | £212,989 |
| Bolton | 3-Semi | £165,651 |
| Stoke on Trent | 3-Semi | £142,982 |
| Bristol | 3-Terraced | £280,851 |
| Northampton | 3-Semi | £237,692 |
| Sheffield | 3-Semi | £155,431 |
| Doncaster | 3-Semi | £125,697 |
| Leeds | 3-Semi | £207,439 |
| Cardiff | 3-Semi | £226,376 |
| Southampton | 3-Semi | £277,739 |
| Preston | 3-Semi | £176,949 |
| Newcastle Upon Tyne | 3-Semi | £157,113 |
| Reading | 3-Semi | £414,255 |
| Lincoln | 3-Semi | £177,843 |
| Warrington | 3-Semi | £183,900 |
| Harrow | 3-Semi | £584,718 |
| Hull | 3-Terraced | £116,532 |
| Plymouth | 3-Semi | £200,305 |
| Worthing | 2-Flat | £254,276 |
| Falkirk | 2-Flat | £78,747 |
| Southport | 3-Semi | £180,018 |
| Wolverhampton | 3-Semi | £173,381 |
| Coventry | 3-Terraced | £188,463 |
| Wirral | 3-Semi | £190,072 |
| Bradford | 3-Semi | £138,625 |
| Blackpool | 3-Semi | £135,864 |
| Milton Keynes | 3-Terraced | £255,119 |
| Norwich | 4-Detached | £395,084 |
| Croydon | 2-Flat | £329,731 |
| Bournemouth | 2-Flat | £234,063 |
| Bridgend | 3-Semi | £153,600 |
| Newport | 3-Semi | £180,233 |
| Oldham | 2-Terraced | £98,998 |
| Mansfield | 3-Semi | £132,260 |
| Wigan | 3-Semi | £144,335 |
| Telford | 3-Semi | £147,623 |
| Hemel Hempstead | 3-Terraced | £361,311 |
| Perth | 2-Flat | £110,894 |
| Swindon | 3-Terraced | £224,588 |
| Exeter | 3-Terraced | £240,024 |
| Gloucester | 3-Semi | £247,424 |
| Stirling | 2-Flat | £123,044 |
Annabel Dixon, spokesperson for Zoopla gave her advice to secure a speedy sale:
The key is to get your pricing correct, meaning the best way to sell your home quickly is to ask for its true value given the current market.
How long did it take you to secure your property sale? We’d be interested to hear about your experiences.
