Who's to blame for the UK having 'the slowest home-moving time'?

When you find the home of your dreams you cannot wait to make it your own – but in the UK, that wait can be significantly longer than elsewhere in the world, it seems. Indeed, you could arguably build a property quicker than the time it takes to process a sale here.

New data suggests that the UK has the slowest home-moving timeline of 12 countries studied – an average of 179 days, or almost six months, compared to the United States, where there’s an average of just 53 days from listing to closing.

The remarkable market analysis, produced by digital property pack provider Moverly, examined the average time it takes to sell a home in the countries most frequently chosen by UK citizens for emigration.

So, if you’re in the UAE, it seems you can be popping open the bubbly in your new home in a superfast 70 days, while in New Zealand you’ll be measuring up for curtains for your latest property within 72 days. In Canada you’ll likely spend your first night in your new abode within a whistlestop 90 days – and in Australia, you’ll be lighting up the barbie at your new address within a not too shabby 95 days.

Only Italy, Spain, Portugal and Singapore lag behind, alongside the UK, but even then, they average 152 days. So, why is it taking quite so long for home-movers to actually… move? And who’s to blame for the process being so grindingly slow in Britain?

Mortgage and protection specialist Serena Smith, from Mortgages with Serena, started an online petition last year, calling for improvements in the homebuying process, based on her own sluggish experience as a buyer. She gathered hundreds of signatures of support.

“I find the process pitifully slow in England,” declared Smith (pictured left). “Scotland have a much better process and average at six weeks. Often a mortgage is blamed for the tardiness, but we know offers can be issued same day in some cases and that often isn’t the issue.

“The poor time keeping / lack of communication comes from solicitors and local authorities. Often it’s not the time taken that frustrates people but – sadly - the terrible communication, with emails going for weeks unanswered. Solicitors/ conveyancers also tend to take large blocks of annual leave without mention to their clients of who will take over - if anyone.”

Mortgage and protection consultant, Michael Welton owner of WPP Financial Services, an AR of Rosemount Financial Solutions, also believes the delays aren’t mortgage related.

“From my point of view this isn’t a lending issue, it’s a conveyancing issue,” said Welton (pictured second from left). “Once the baton is passed from mortgage adviser to conveyancer, after the mortgage offer is issued, that’s then when the typical delays begin. This is the area of the purchase market that needs addressing the most.”

How key is technology to the home-moving process?

David Castling, head of intermediary distribution at digital lender Atom bank, believes technology is crucial for improving speeds.

“It can help take on some of the heavy lifting involved in the assessment process, and mean that cases are progressed far more quickly,” commented Castling (pictured second from right).

“The high street banks are stuck using processes that are not able to deliver the sort of speeds that borrowers and brokers want, whereas we have been able to be much more nimble in putting in place cutting edge systems that make a tangible difference.

“Lenders need to be better at speeding up the elements of the journey that are within their scope of control. They also need to apply influence to the other stages in the journey which can consume large portions of time, such as conveyancing. With a concerted effort, we can deliver a much faster and less stressful experience to homebuyers.”

There has been no real progression in the industry for 20 years, according to mortgage adviser Michelle Lawson, from Lawson Financial, who also blames a lack of joined up technology for causing delays.

“The advanced countries in the report all have licensed realtors that handle pretty much all of the transaction, which helps,” Lawson said. “We have too many people involved, too much duplication and too much static, non-transferrable data. We can bring the speed of transactions down - it can be done and has been done, by having all information in one place, shared between parties, most of which can be obtained prior to marketing.”

Read more: OPDA urges next government to reform homebuying process

How big a problem is the time it takes to complete a property sale?

Maria Harris (pictured right), founder and chair of the trade body Open Property Data Association, considers the duration of the home-moving process a ‘huge problem’.

“The current customer experience is unjustifiable,” Harris remarked. “The monetary and emotional cost for the buyer and seller, along with the lack of transparency and the uncertainty of such an important purchase are a sad reflection of how bad the process is.”

Harris said the time it takes to complete causes a significant productivity and efficiency cost for those involved in a transaction, including lenders, intermediaries, estate agents and HM Land Registry.

“There’s so much duplication and manual requesting and processing of information for every single task, it’s a miracle that seven out of ten transactions ever get to completion,” she noted. “Who’s to blame? All of us across the industry, but also the government.”

Harris suggested a promise to increase data digitisation at source and collectively adopt digital solutions for sharing property data, identity checks, and e-signatures had come to nothing.

“For an industry that contributes so much to GDP and a healthy functioning economy, it’s sadly lacking in market infrastructure or adoption of the open source standards needed to underpin transparent, trustable, and reliable transactions,” she said.