Property transactions are taking longer than ever to complete, with the time to exchange contracts now averaging 135 days – up 45% on 2019 – despite fewer homes being sold.
New analysis from Novus Strategy shows the conveyancing process continues to slow even as transaction volumes fall, highlighting what it describes as a fragmented system that technology alone has failed to fix.
HMRC recorded 79,880 transactions in January 2026, down from 82,350 a year earlier, yet the time taken to reach exchange has increased from 131 days last year to 135 days now. In 2019, when transaction levels were similar, the average exchange time was just 93 days.
When the time taken to find a buyer is included, the full process now averages around 221 days – more than seven months – compared with about six months before the pandemic.
PRIME MARKET
Delays are particularly pronounced at the top end of the market, with transactions over £1m now taking 146 days to exchange, reflecting more complex finance, longer chains and additional legal checks.
Novus says that the figures show the industry still lacks a fully connected digital process, despite years of investment in technology.
Claire Van der Zant (main picture), Chief Executive of Novus Strategy, says: “It’s disappointing to see that time to exchange is still rising, and this metric has been trending upwards for some time.
“It only confirms what we, and many others across the industry, have been saying for a long time, which is that the ecosystem remains too fragmented.
BUSINESS FRICTION
And she adds: “There is only so much efficiency to be gained from solutions that are not interoperable. There remains a huge amount of friction between these businesses when they need to coordinate and communicate with each other, in order to push a transaction forward.
“This is precisely why the Government saw the need for significant reform of the home buying and selling process, and why the recommendations cannot come soon enough.”
Novus says greater use of shared data, digital identity and integrated systems will be needed if the industry is to cut delays and reduce the risk of transactions falling through.
