"The current process delivers an appallingly slow, unpredictable, and disappointing experience for the majority of home buyers and sellers. "
- Maria Harris, chair of the OPDA
A new survey of over 5,000 people from across the UK who have bought or sold a property in the past five years found that homebuying is taking over three times longer than buyers expect.
The research also found that the expectations and reality of completion times varies significantly by age group and postcode region.
More than half (57%) of those surveyed by the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) thought that the homebuying process would take less than two months from when the offer was accepted to exchanging contracts but, in reality, 46% discovered that it took between three and six months. For a further unlucky 16%, their completion took more than six months.
Despite most respondents not being first-time buyers and having some previous experience of the process, 62% of people took well over three months to exchange.
The region with the highest proportion of people waiting longer than expected was the West Midlands where nearly 20% of transactions took in excess of six months. This was closely followed by the North East at 19% of transactions, then East Anglia and the South West where over 18% of transactions took that long.
Northern Ireland is the best place to move house if you want a speedy home move, outperforming even Scotland which is often hailed as having a better process, with 52% of transactions being achieved within two months, almost meeting the expectations of the 58% who thought that two months was an acceptable timescale.
Comments from buyers across the UK included: “Things have changed a lot since we previously bought/sold – nowadays it is more like an auction – you get a guide price and you put an offer in and wait and see if you have 'won'!”
“The mortgage was agreed and papers signed ready to move in three days then the money went missing? We couldn't move for five more days with no furniture in our house and two autistic children.”
Maria Harris, chair of the OPDA, commented: “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.”
Since it launched last June, OPDA has delivered open property data standards and models for trustable and shareable data securing collaboration and support from major lenders and industry firms including Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, and OnTheMarket. Those using OPDA’s data standards for digital property packs have seen offer to exchange time reduced from an average of 22 weeks to within 15 days.
