Average house sale taking four months in Stevenage and St Albans

Homes in Stevenage and St Albans postcode areas are taking an average of more than 17 weeks to change hands, new data analysis has revealed.

According to professional house buying firm Property Solvers, homes with an AL postcode are typically taking 17.4 weeks to sell, from just 15 weeks in AL1 and AL10 to 19 weeks in AL4, AL6 and AL8.

In Stevenage the overall average stands at 17.9 weeks, with extremes of 15 weeks in SG4 (Hitchin) and 25 weeks in SG16 (Henlow).

Property Solvers' local house market insights tool analysed property sales across the region between May 2018 and May 2019 to reach these conclusions.

The data tracks the moment a property is listed on Rightmove to the point it's marked as officially 'sold' at the HM Land Registry.

Property Solvers co-founder, Ruban Selvanayagam said: "Whilst the St Albans and Stevenage sale times are above the British national average (15.4 weeks), the reasons for delays are similar to the rest of the country.

"One of the issues is that estate agents continue to overvalue properties to secure sales which means that many homes linger on the market for longer than they need to (and end up seeing a downward price correction anyway).

"Stricter mortgage approval processes and conveyancing delays also come into play, which really shouldn't be the case in the digital age we live in."

Find the tool here: https://www.propertysolvers.co.uk/local-house-market-insights/