Scotland has replaced London as the fastest place for a seller to find a buyer for their home, figures suggest. In 2014, it took 36 days in London on average to secure a buyer, but this rose to 60 days by last year, according to property portal Rightmove. In contrast, the average time to secure a buyer fell from 66 days to 41 days over the same period in Scotland. The figures, compiled for the BBC, show that the market for flats has slowed amid debate over leasehold rules. Various surveys have shown that the property market has slowed in London and the South East of England in recent years, with prices falling particularly in London. House prices on average across the UK are still rising slightly, but there has been a significant drop in London. The latest figures, based on Rightmove data, show that the time taken between initially marketing a home and an estate agent finding a buyer has been rising in the region, returning to the 60-day average in London last seen in 2011. "Whilst it would be easy to link that with the Brexit vote, there are other factors at play, especially increasingly stretched buyer affordability," said Miles Shipside, Rightmove's housing market analyst. One of those factors is the increasing amount of time taken by the sellers of flats to find a buyer in England and Wales. Changes in taxation have led to a drop in the demand from buy-to-let investors, many of whom had built up a portfolio of apartments. Another theory is that the Bank of Mum and Dad has helped some first-time buyers to move straight into houses, instead of flats, with the added attraction of some outside space and their own front door. The debate over leaseholds, which are more common among flats, may also be significant. It may also explain the difference with Scotland, where so-called hidden costs are far less of an issue and where the time to find a buyer of any type of property has been falling. Kate Faulkner, housing analyst and managing director of Propertychecklists.co.uk, said that sellers needed to be well prepared if they wanted a swift sale of a flat. She suggested: Sellers of older flats were also in competition with a host of new-build developments, which might include access to restaurants and gyms, she added. She suggested being realistic when setting a price, considering throwing the property open to offers over a certain price, and showing off the space available inside the flat. "De-clutter and de-personalise as much as possible. Show off the space and give people a blank canvas to imagine living there," she said. Once a buyer has been secured, the legal process and the checks required by mortgage lenders have become stricter and taken longer since the financial crisis. Greater regulation has slowed these down for many people. As a result, Mr Shipside, of Rightmove, said that buyers looking for a property now might be over-optimistic if they expected to celebrate Christmas in their new home in England or Wales. "This is most noticeable for those buying flats, where conveyancing times have increased from 100 days in 2011 to 123 days in 2018 in England and Wales," he said. "That means those buyers who have an offer accepted on a flat this month may not complete until the end of the year, especially if they'll be getting a mortgage." - Amount of the United Kingdom that has housing you can afford Range of affordable areas includes: Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon and Belfast You have a big enough deposit and your monthly payments are high enough. The prices are based on the local market. If there are 100 properties of the right size in an area and they are placed in price order with the cheapest first, the “low-end” of the market will be the 25th property, "mid-priced" is the 50th and "high-end” will be the 75th.
The average time to secure a buyer for a home in London has fallen to 41 days, making it the fastest place to sell in the UK, according to data from Rightmove. The figure marks a sizeable difference from 2014, when it took 66 days in London; meanwhile, the average home-buying time in Scotland has increased from 36 to 60 days over the same period. While affordability has affected the Scotland area, one factor working in London's favour is the scarcity of hidden costs, like leaseholds, north of the English border.