It now takes five months, on average, to complete the process of buying a house1, a rise of nearly a quarter since 2019.
In the last six months, the average time taken to complete the home buying process stands at 153 days, up from the 124 days recorded in 2019.
Reasons for the longer wait include increased demand and greater workloads for solicitors, as well as local authority searches taking longer due to technology issues or large backlogs.
Documents that need to be physical rather than signed or reviewed digitally also slow the process down. The research revealed that the documents that take longest to complete are the mortgage application and agreement in principle.
As a mortgage is secured against your home or property, it could be repossessed if you do not keep up mortgage repayments.
1 Smoove