The time taken to complete a property purchase is continuing to lengthen, according to Propertymark, the trade body for estate and letting agents.
In its latest report, A Dickensian legal process, Propertymark explored the reasons why it’s taking increasingly longer to exchange contracts on a property.
It noted that, in March 2024, only 29% of transactions progressed from offer acceptance to exchange of contracts within 12 weeks, compared to 78% in March 2016 – a significant deterioration.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, said: “The amount of time taken to complete a purchase on a home is becoming increasingly tedious and lengthy. However, it’s more important than ever to understand the fundamental issues causing this, considering that the time taken to complete is up to six months and longer in some cases.
“Our member agents are on the ground witnessing delays and have [brought] their concerns and thoughts to the fore,” Douglas continued.
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“Policy makers and the new Government at Westminster need to address these in order to speed up the house buying and selling process to keep the wheels of the housing market turning, as it’s a vital cog in boosting the economy.”
Reasons for delays
The industry body said the reasons for the elongation are “multifaceted, interlinked and variable”. They include solicitors being under-resourced, delays in local authority searches, lenders taking too long to send out mortgage offers and the overall sales process being outdated and administratively intensive.
Propertymark said that this is a problem, as “the existing system was not designed to deal with large information flows”. Despite technology that could be leveraged to streamline the process, the adoption and integration of these technologies was patchy at best.
Related: Lower level of home sales recorded in March compared to last year
