Estate agent
Longest and least certain. There is a buyer to find, then a legal stage with no commitment until exchange.
- Listing to sale agreed
- About 62 to 63 days, Rightmove 2026
- Sale agreed to completion
- About 120 to 154 days
How long does it take to sell a house?
The house selling timeline has four stages, each with its own clock, and the published figures for each come from different publishers measuring different things.
On this page
The short answer
How long does it take to sell a house? About five to seven months from listing to completion in England and Wales. GOV.UK says about 5 months on average.1 Rightmove's 2026 figures give 216 days, made up of 62 days to find a buyer and 154 days from sale agreed to completion.2 Our tracker shows how long sales are taking this month.
Finding a buyer now takes around two months. The legal stage after an offer takes roughly twice as long, and it is the stage a seller controls least once it has started. Most of what a seller can do to shorten a sale happens before the property is listed.
What are the steps to selling a house?
Selling a house in England and Wales takes four steps. You prepare, market the home until an offer is accepted, go through the legal work up to exchange of contracts, and then wait out the gap between exchange and completion. Nothing is legally binding until exchange, when both sides sign and swap contracts.6 Completion, on a date fixed at exchange, is when the money moves and the sale ends. Your conveyancer takes the buyer's funds, clears the mortgage and the fees, and passes the rest to you.6 The difference between exchange and completion, and what each day asks of you, has its own guide.
There is no official answer to how long it should take to sell a house, and no target, only the published ranges below. They come from different sources and do not add up exactly. A sale running well past them is the signal to look for a cause.
How a house sale in England and Wales is timed
- Prepare Set by you, and no dataset times it. It covers the EPC, title documents, property information and a conveyancer lined up before listing.
- Listing to sale agreed About 62 to 63 days on Rightmove in summer 2026.2
- Sale agreed to exchange 104 days for sales exchanging in April 2026 in one agency network.5
- Exchange to completion A date fixed in the contract. Both sides are bound from exchange. No national average found.
Work back from the date you want to complete
Enter your date to see the latest day to list on each published figure, and which stages have none. If the date is already closer than these figures allow, selling quickly sets out what each route can do in that time and what the speed costs.
Latest date to list
Enter the date you want to complete by to see when to list.
That date has already passed. Enter a date from today onwards.
Too soon for an estate agent sale on the published figures. Every one of them puts the latest listing date before today. See how auction and direct sale change the timetable.
If the date cannot move, see how auction and direct sale change the timetable.
Leasehold sales took 155 days to reach exchange in one agency network, against 97 for freehold, so plan on the earlier date.
These are published averages, not a promise. Only homes that found a buyer are in them.
Not sure which route suits you? Answer three questions.
| Basis | Published durations | List by |
|---|---|---|
| Rightmove, 2026 | 62 days to find a buyer, then 154 days until the listing is removed: 216 days in all2 | Enter a date |
| Government roadmap, June 2026, with Rightmove's time to find a buyer | Around 120 days from accepted offer to completion4, plus 62 or 63 days to find a buyer23 | Enter a date |
| GOV.UK | About 5 months on average from listing to completion1 | Enter a date |
| Connells Group, freehold, April 2026 exchanges | 97 days from offer to exchange5, plus 62 or 63 days to find a buyer. The gap from exchange to completion has no published figure and comes on top. | Enter a date |
| Connells Group, leasehold, April 2026 exchanges | 155 days from offer to exchange5, plus 62 or 63 days to find a buyer. The gap from exchange to completion has no published figure and comes on top. | Enter a date |
| If the property is a flat: Rightmove, 2026 | 62 days to find a buyer, then 169 days from sale agreed for flats2 | Enter a date |
The range at the top uses the first three rows. The Connells Group figure stops at exchange and covers only its own network, so it gives a date to list before, not on. In London, Rightmove's time to find a buyer was 73 days in July 20263, which moves each date that uses Rightmove's time to find a buyer 10 or 11 days earlier.
Stages with no published figure
- Preparing to list. Set by you. No dataset times it.
- Exchange to completion. A date fixed in the contract at exchange. No national average found.
- The buyer's mortgage offer, survey and searches. They run alongside the legal work. No primary dataset times them separately.
- A sale with no chain. No dated, published dataset for chain-free sales in England and Wales.
From listing to an accepted offer
Finding a buyer took 62 days across Great Britain in Rightmove's 2026 time-to-move release.2 Rightmove measures the time from a listing going live to being marked sold subject to contract, meaning an offer is accepted but nothing binds yet. Its August 2026 House Price Index gives about 63 days for July, with London at 73.3 The same index reported the most homes for sale for the time of year in 12 years, which gives buyers more choice.3
Only homes that found a buyer are in these averages. A house priced above what buyers will pay can sit much longer, and the average does not show that. If yours has, why a house is not selling works through the likely causes. Rightmove sells advertising to estate agents, and its figures cover only its own listings.
How long does a house sale take from offer to completion?
Once an offer is accepted, completion takes about four to five months on the published figures. The sources disagree on the exact length because they measure it differently:
Accepted offer to completion, as published
Rightmove's figure is a proxy. It ends when an agent takes the listing down, which may not be the day of completion. Connells stops at exchange and uses only sales in its own network. Rightmove also reports the 2026 figure as 36 days longer than in 2019.2
Exchange to completion has no national average we could find. Buyer and seller agree the completion date, and it is written into the contract at exchange. After exchange, pulling out is a breach of a binding contract.6 Before it, either side can walk away, and that gap is where sales fall through. How often, and what to do if it happens to you, is covered in when a sale falls through.
What lengthens a sale
Leasehold is the biggest measured delay. Connells Group, an estate agency and conveyancing business, found that leasehold sales exchanging in April 2026 took 155 days to reach exchange, against 97 for freehold. In 2025, 43 per cent of leasehold sales fell through, against 36 per cent of freehold ones.5
Part of the leasehold delay is waiting for the freeholder or managing agent to supply sales information. There is no statutory deadline for that yet. Section 67 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 would allow one, but legislation.gov.uk still listed it as not in force when The House Desk checked on 14 September 2026.9
A chain adds time because every sale in it has to be ready to exchange on the same day. GOV.UK notes that a sale can take longer when you are part of one.1 Selling and buying a house at the same time puts you in a chain by definition. There is no separate figure for how long that takes. Your sale runs on the timings above, and your purchase must be ready to exchange alongside it.
The buyer's mortgage offer, survey and local searches run in parallel with yours. We found no primary dataset that times those steps separately, so there is no figure for them here. In practice, a buyer who already has a mortgage in principle and a conveyancer instructed is starting further along.
How long a sale with no chain takes
We found no dated, published figure for a sale with no chain in England and Wales. A buyer with nothing to sell, such as a first-time buyer or a cash buyer, removes the wait for other sales to be ready.
How long does it take to sell a flat?
Longer than a house. Rightmove's 2026 figure for flats is 169 days from sale agreed, against 149 for terraced and semi-detached houses.2 Connells Group's leasehold figures above point the same way.5 Both measure the legal stage after an offer, not the time to find a buyer. Part of the gap is the leasehold wait for sales information described above.
Days from sale agreed, by property type (Rightmove, 2026)2
What to do before you list
You control the first stage, and preparing now can shorten the others. You must have an Energy Performance Certificate before marketing the property.7 Beyond that, the most useful work is gathering what the buyer's conveyancer will ask for, so the legal stage does not wait on you. If you can choose the month you list, the monthly figures on the best time of year to sell can help.
That list comes from National Trading Standards guidance.8 Having it ready speeds up listing and early questions. Solicitor fees for selling a house sets out what a conveyancer charges and when.
When you weigh offers, ask each buyer whether their mortgage is agreed in principle, whether they have instructed a conveyancer, and whether they have a home of their own to sell first. A buyer with nothing to sell is not waiting on anyone else’s sale, and one who has done the first two is already some way into the work that follows an offer. For your completion date, that can count for more than a slightly higher figure.
Haroon Ali Author, The House Desk. Over 11 years in property and renovation Reform is coming, but not yet. None of it changes the law for a sale today.
The government's reform timetable for England
- June 2026 Roadmap published4 By its own estimate, the reforms could take around four weeks off transactions.
- During 2026 Non-statutory measures4 Guidance on material information, voluntary identification of sales pack information and a code of practice for agents.
- By the end of this Parliament Sales packs before listing, and binding conditional contracts4 Both planned, subject to parliamentary time.
How auction and direct sale change the timetable
A traditional auction moves exchange to the day of the sale. The RICS Common Auction Conditions, 5th edition, set the standard timetable.
The work moves to before the auction instead, because the legal pack must be ready for bidders to read. Individual auctioneers vary these conditions, and the modern method of auction works differently. Both are covered in selling at auction and the modern method of auction.
A house-buying company sets its timetable in its own terms, and we have found no published data on how often those timetables are met. Our guide to house-buying companies covers what to check.
How long does it take to sell a house in Scotland?
Scotland is faster on Rightmove's figures, at 29 days to find a buyer and 98 days from sale agreed, the shortest in Great Britain.2 The process is different. A seller must provide a Home Report, including a survey and valuation, within nine days of a buyer asking.11 Where several buyers note interest, the seller can set a closing date for written offers.12 After an offer is accepted, the solicitors exchange letters called missives, and the concluding missive is the binding contract.13
How long are you liable after selling a house?
Usually six years. The Limitation Act 1980 sets that limit in England and Wales for a buyer's claim in contract or tort (a civil wrong such as negligence), and gives twelve years for a claim on a deed. For negligence damage that was hidden, the limit is three years from when it could be discovered, with a fifteen-year longstop.14
If the sale has stalled, the house not selling check finds the stage it is stuck at.
Questions people ask about how long a sale takes
Why does it take so long to sell a house?
Most of the time goes on the legal work after an offer, not on finding a buyer. Connells Group measured 104 days from offer to exchange in April 2026, and 155 for leasehold sales, which partly wait on the freeholder or managing agent. A chain holds everyone to the slowest sale, and the buyer’s mortgage offer, survey and searches all run alongside.
Three routes, three timetables
How long a sale takes depends first on the route. Each one changes when the buyer is committed.
Not sure which fits? Answer three questions and we will suggest one.
Property auction
The contract is formed on the day, with completion under standard conditions 20 business days later.
- Committed buyer
- On the auction day
- Completion
- Per the conditions of sale
House-buying company
The company sets the timetable in its own terms. Check how and when it can change its offer.
- Timetable
- Set by the company
Find the route that fits you
Three questions, about 30 seconds. Your answers stay in your browser.
Question 1 of 3
Your best fit
What you give up:
Why this route
Close second: Property auction.
Selling in Scotland works differently, with a Home Report and offers over a closing date. The guides note where Scottish rules differ.
Get help with your sale
Leave your details and tell us how you would like to sell.
While you wait, the guide covers what to check before you agree to anything.
Sources
(14)
Numbers in the text link to these. Each was read on the date shown. How we research
- Selling a home
- North-South divide for time to move as Londoners see longest wait
- House Price Index, August 2026
- Home buying and selling reform roadmap
- Conveyancing delays push time to exchange contracts past 100 days
- Selling a home: transferring ownership (conveyancing)
- Buying or selling your home: Energy Performance Certificates
- Full material information guidance published
- Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, section 67: leasehold sales information requests
- Common Auction Conditions (5th edition), reproduced with the consent of RICS
- Home Report
- Selling a home: closing date and offers
- Selling a home: missives
- Limitation Act 1980, Part I