Homebuyers underestimate the time it takes to complete on a house purchase, with the process taking more than three times longer than they thought, a survey found.
A poll from the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) of 5,000 people who had bought or sold a property in the last five years found that 57% believed the homebuying process would take less than two months from the offer being accepted to exchanging contracts.
However, 46% found that it took between three and six months while 16% did not complete for at least six months.
The survey found that although the majority of respondents were not first-time buyers, it still took 62% of them more than three months to exchange.
Completion times were reported to be the longest in the West Midlands where a fifth of transactions took more than six months. This was followed by the North East where 19% of transactions did not complete for at least six months.
East Anglia and the South West followed these regions, leaving buyers waiting at least half a year to exchange.
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Transactions in Northern Ireland were the fastest, with 52% of transactions taking less than two months. OPDA said the nation even outperformed Scotland, which is usually praised for having a faster sales process.
“Appallingly slow” process
Maria Harris (pictured), chair of OPDA, said: “Our large-scale survey regrettably but predictably confirms what we have long asserted, that homebuying is not the customer centric experience it should be. The current process delivers an appallingly slow, unpredictable, and disappointing experience for the majority of home buyers and sellers. Buying a home, especially your first, should be a cause for celebration.
“Instead, it too frequently leaves buyers open to heartbreak and unfulfilled expectations and is not fit for purpose. Clearly, customers expect a better homebuying experience and reform is urgently needed to achieve this.”
OPDA’s survey forms part of its research into improving the homebuying process with safe, shareable digital data. It plans to publish the full research later, which will include recommendations to the government around digitising the homebuying process.
Since launching in June last year, OPDA has developed standards for sharing digital data. Industry stakeholders including Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and OnTheMarket have signed up to the body.