Almost three-quarters of Scottish property sales are reaching exchange within three months, highlighting how much transaction times can vary between markets as Australian homes also take longer to sell.
Scotland’s property buying system is again outpacing England, with new figures showing 72 per cent of agreed sales reach exchange within three months.
The data from UK property data company TwentyEA highlights significant regional differences in how quickly transactions progress and comes as Australian properties are also taking longer to sell, with the latest PropTrack figures putting the national median at 43 days.
The comparison is not a direct one. Scotland, England and Australia operate under different legal and transaction systems, while the TwentyEA figures measure the period between a sale being agreed and contracts being exchanged.
In Australia, exchange generally occurs much earlier in the transaction, followed by a separate settlement period.
But the figures provide an interesting snapshot of transaction speed at a time when the time required to secure a buyer has also lengthened in Australia.
PropTrack’s August Market Snapshot, released on September 17, shows the typical Australian home took 43 days to sell, eight days longer than a year earlier and almost two weeks longer than the recent low recorded in April.
In the UK, TwentyEA found the North East was the fastest English region, with 58.4 per cent of property transactions reaching exchange within three months.
Yorkshire and The Humber was close behind at 55.6 per cent, followed by the East Midlands at 50.4 per cent, the West Midlands at 49.9 per cent and the North West at 47.6 per cent.
London sat at the other end of the scale.
After three months, just 31.1 per cent of transactions in Outer London and 35.4 per cent in Inner London had reached exchange.
Scotland, which operates under a separate legal system, was considerably faster, with 72 per cent of agreed sales reaching exchange within three months.
TwentyEA Director Nick Huntley told Estate Agent Today that geography had a significant bearing on how quickly transactions progressed.
“The regional divide is striking, with sales in the North East and Yorkshire and The Humber progressing much faster than those in London,” Nick said.
“Differences in property type, transaction chains and the profile of buyers and sellers are all likely to play a role, demonstrating the significant bearing geography can have on how quickly a transaction progresses.
“With Scotland outperforming England by a country mile yet again, the figures highlight the shortcomings of England’s slow and stagnant legal system, which is why we’ve welcomed the government’s reforms.”
For Australian agents, the findings come as transaction efficiency and the length of the selling process remain firmly in focus.
The latest PropTrack figures show the median time required to sell an Australian property has increased from 35 days a year ago to 43 days, reflecting a market in which buyers generally have more time to make decisions.
While that measure cannot be directly compared with TwentyEA’s sale-agreed-to-exchange figures, both highlight the time involved in moving a property transaction forward and the substantial differences that can exist between markets.
The Scottish result is particularly notable because its property transaction system differs from that operating in England and Wales, where an accepted offer does not immediately create a binding contract and a transaction can still fall through before exchange.
Australia also has its own state-based differences in the mechanics of buying and selling property, including cooling-off provisions and settlement practices.
For agents, the broader issue is not simply how quickly a buyer can be found, but how efficiently a transaction can progress once an agreement has been reached.
With Australian homes now taking a median 43 days to sell and the UK figures revealing wide differences in the time required to reach exchange, transaction speed is increasingly becoming another measure of how efficiently property markets operate.