Market backlog means homesellers could fly to the moon 17 times in the time it’s taking for property sales to complete

How long does it take to complete after accepting an offer?

In regular market conditions, it takes an average of 11 weeks between the point an offer is accepted on a property and the transaction actually completing. However, the current stamp duty holiday has caused a huge influx of buyers keen to secure a saving and as a result, the property market is struggling to keep up.

The latest research from Rightmove suggests that with sizeable backlogs forming at the final legal stages of a sale, home sellers should expect to see delays of at least a month longer than usual from the point they accept an offer until they actually complete. That means the average home seller won’t have officially sold their home until 15 weeks after accepting an offer. That’s 105 days!

What could you do while waiting for your sale to complete?

Of course, 15 weeks gives them plenty of time to plan for Christmas but what about the other 69 days? Yes Homebuyers has looked at some other options to keep them busy.

They could go on a cruise around the world and still have a few days to kill either side, although Covid has put a spanner in the works where travel plans are concerned.

Climbing Mount Everest only takes approximately two months but they would need to do it twice to fill the time while their sale completes.

For those with a little more ambition, there are no quarantine restrictions on the moon (not that we know of anyway). A return trip takes around six days so you’d have plenty of time to find out during your 17 trips there and back.

If you’d rather something a little more achievable, you could play 630 rounds of golf on an 18 hole course, run 546 marathons, or play 1,680 full games of football.

Of course, it's worth bearing in mind that with our "buy my house" service, we can have the sale all done and dusted in as little as 2 weeks.

Unpredictability of the property selling process

Matthew Cooper, Founder & Managing Director of Yes Homebuyers, commented:

“Many home buyers and sellers may have had ambitions of moving before Christmas having accepted an offer in recent weeks. Unfortunately, the current reality is that many will probably struggle to complete before the stamp duty holiday deadline expires.

While a lengthy sale process is nothing new, the current delays really highlight the unpredictability of the property selling process in the UK. While many may well accept a delayed timeline as part and parcel of selling, it’s the uncertainty of the delay itself that is the real issue.

Uncertainty leaving many in "life limbo"

Not knowing when you’re going to complete prevents you from planning your move and leaves you in life limbo, often living out of boxes or at a friend or family members. This is never ideal, but it’s particularly tough during the Christmas period.

The vast majority of sellers that use our homebuying platform to sell their home quickly also value the concrete timeline that we are able to provide. It’s one aspect we really need to work on in the UK as the ability to a set deadline for completion to take place should be something that is achievable across all selling routes. If we can do it at Yes Homebuyers, why can’t the rest of the industry work towards it too?”