Rightmove Data Shows Wales To Be The Slowest Place To Sell Your House In The UK

Each month Rightmove, the UK’s largest portal for advertising property, releases data that they have accumulated through their own measurements. Commonly known as The Rightmove House Price Index, people often refer to this data to find the current national house price for The UK and individual regions. For August 2023 Rightmove are reporting that The UK national house price is £364,895 which is 1.9% less than what was reported last month, in real terms it’s a fall of £7,012. For Wales, the average house price is £257,090, a fall of 1.4% since last month. From looking at the average house price it can be seen that house prices in Wales haven’t fallen as fast as the rest of the country but the speed of how quickly properties are being sold in Wales is concerning.

Other house price results can be seen from mortgage lenders such as Halifax and Nationwide who provide results based on mortgage offers, but they don’t include cash buyers. Rightmove measures advertised house prices but it doesn’t account for what prices are actually agreed, so the average house price from Rightmove is always inflated as it reflects what price the seller wants, not what they agree with a buyer. Data from The Land Registry is the most reliable for showing what prices have been achieved but it is usually delayed by quite a few months, to account for the time that it takes for the conveyancing process and then after that The Land Registry data isn’t released for a further couple of months. It’s safe to say that The Land Registry data is an accurate reflection of what happened in the property market a few months back but not the current situation.

It Takes 62 Days To Sell a House in Wales

Rightmove is one of the best measures of what’s currently happening in the property market and it is also the only major index that records the speed of sales. They are in a good position to do this as they can see in real time how long it takes for a listing to be added to Rightmove and then to be taken off the market. When compared to the rest of The UK, Wales is the slowest region taking 62 days for a sale to be agreed. This is closely followed by London which takes 61 days to sell a home. Up until a few months ago London was the slowest region to sell a house in the UK but now Wales moved into last place. There is no clear explanation as to why Wales has now become the slowest place to agree a sale but industry experts Direct House Buyer  who regularly comment on Rightmove Data have said, “In the current climate a slower moving property market for a particular region could be down to a lack of buyers who are able to meet the higher costs of owning a home, it’s not just the cost of living crisis but affordability of more expensive mortgages. Regions with lower incomes and relatively expensive homes will be hit hardest by the raise in interest rates from lenders”.

On the top end of the scale Scotland is the fastest place to sell a house in The UK, taking 31 days. Incomes in Scotland aren’t particularly high but house prices are far cheaper with the average being £190,305, when compared to the average house price in Wales being £257,090, it seems that property in Scotland is a lot more affordable. Scotland does have a different conveyancing process than the rest of the UK but this does not affect Rightmove’s results as they measure up until the point a sale is agreed, not how long it takes to complete. For Wales, the slowdown in property transactions may result in sellers having to further reduce their asking prices to achieve a sale that’s quicker than the 62 day average if they wish to meet the new lower affordability that buyers have.