12:01 AM, 15th May 2026, 2 hours ago
Home sales are taking more than 100 days to reach exchange for the first April on record, with leasehold deals dragging buyers and sellers into longer and riskier waits.
Connells Group says the average home that exchanged contracts in April had gone under offer 104 days earlier.
That is around four weeks longer than in April 2019, when the average was 76 days, which is above the roughly 60-day timeline seen in the early 2010s.
The group says 61% of transactions now take longer to exchange after a sale is agreed than the time needed to find a buyer.
Transaction process
Aneisha Beveridge, the research director at Connells Group, said: “For the first time on record, it is now taking more than 100 days, on average, for a sale to progress from offer agreed to exchange.
“That highlights how much more drawn-out the transaction process has become, particularly since the pandemic.
“Extra checks, longer chains and tighter legal and compliance requirements are all adding time, with leasehold purchases standing out as the biggest contributor to delays.”
She added: “The knock-on effect is that buyers and sellers are left exposed for longer once a deal is agreed, and we’re increasingly seeing more transactions collapse later in the process.
“As sales take longer to work their way through the system, buyers become more exposed to changes in mortgage rates and house prices if conditions shift during that period.
“That extended uncertainty builds further down the line.”
Takes longer to buy
Nearly one in five homes (17%), now take more than six months to reach exchange after going under offer.
That compares with 13% a year ago and 5% a decade earlier.
The difference between cash and mortgaged purchases has also started to reappear.
In April last year, both types of transaction took a similar length of time to reach exchange.
This April, homes bought with a mortgage took nine days longer than cash purchases.
The gap remains below the 15-day difference recorded in April 2022, when borrowing costs were higher and mortgage market volatility was more pronounced.
Leasehold takes longer
Connells says the typical leasehold home took 155 days to reach exchange in April, compared with 97 days for a freehold property.
The resulting 58-day gap is the widest on record and far above the 13-day difference seen before Covid.
More extensive legal requirements and delays by managing agents are being cited as factors behind the longer leasehold timeline.
The problem is most visible in markets with a higher share of flats, including London and other major urban centres, where leasehold homes account for a larger proportion of sales.
