Aneisha Beveridge, research director at Connells Group, said: “While homes may only be taking marginally longer to find a buyer, that doesn’t tell the full story of why transactions continue to feel slow.
“Part of this reflects the hangover from a subdued final quarter of 2025, when Budget uncertainty stretched selling times.
“But it’s also because many of the homes brought to market last year, often into tougher conditions, have only found a buyer in recent months, pushing up the average time taken to sell.
“However, the bigger constraint today is what happens after a sale is agreed.
“Our analysis shows the median time from sale agreed to exchange has now risen to around 130 days across England and Wales, close to double pre-pandemic norms.
“Delays are especially acute in the leasehold market, where transactions are taking closer to 150 days on average, compared with around 126 days for freehold homes, reflecting the extra layers of legal checks and documentation now involved.
“As a result, the longer tail of the market continues to grow. More than one in five transactions are now taking over six months to exchange – the highest share on record.
“These extended timelines increase the risk of fall-throughs and continue to suppress overall market activity, even as buyer demand and front-end selling speeds begin to recover.”
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