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What is the ideal time to spend on the property market? How you could risk losing thousands
Time on the housing market matters – get an offer too quickly or too slowly and you’ll often find you have to settle for less than the asking price. What is the ideal time for a property to spend on the market?
Fast but not too fast is the best way to sell a property – homes under offer in 10 to 11 days typically achieve the best prices, new research suggests.
The speed of a house sale can make, or cost, sellers thousands of pounds, analysis from the HomeOwners Alliance’s Best Estate Agent Finder tool has found.
Agents with an average selling time of 11 days achieve 100.4% of the asking price, raising an extra £1,000 on an average priced property, data from 6,000 estate agent branches across the UK revealed.
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Perhaps counterintuitively, selling too quickly can work against sellers. Properties sold within seven days or less achieved just 94% of the asking price, leaving sellers almost £16,000 worse off on an averagely priced home.
Overall though, the research revealed a pattern – the longer on the market, the lower the final price for the property.
Paula Higgins, founder and chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance said, “Right now every pound matters to homeowners. Our data shows there is a sweet spot when selling a home and that is around 11 days. Sell too fast and you leave money on the table. Let it drag on over a month and buyers start knocking thousands off the price.”
How can a slow sale impact the property asking price?
After 30 days on the market, sellers typically have to settle for less, accepting 98% of their asking price. After three months, (90 days), the situation gets worse for sellers, typically accepting 95.5% of their asking price.
With the average UK home now selling for around £270,000, these percentage differences quickly add up. A home sold after one month will typically be £5,400 below the asking price. After three months, that rises to around £18,400.
Estate agents who consistently sell in around 11 days are the ones achieving the best prices, according to the data – and when a home sits on the market for weeks, it is often a sign something needs to change.
You can see how quickly homes like yours are sold by your local estate agents using the HomeOwners Alliance’s Best Estate Agent Finder. It ranks your local agents by how successful they are at selling quickly and securing the asking price.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Average days on the market vs average asking price achieved
Average number of days on market
Average % of asking price achieved
Amount above/below asking price (based on average UK property price of £270K)
7 days or less
94.1%
-£15.9K
10 days
100.3%
+£810
11 days
100.4%
+£1.1K
14 days
99.0%
-£2.7K
30 days (1 month)
98.0%
-£5.4K
60 days (2 months)
95.5%
-£12.2K
90 days (3 months)
95.5%
-£12.2K
120 days (4 months)
93.2%
-£18.4K
150 days (5 months)
91.2%
-£23.8K
Top tips for property sellers in 2026
1. Get your price right
Sellers have kicked off 2026 pricing their properties ambitiously – the average asking price on property website Rightmove jumped month-on-month by £9,893 (2.8%) from £358,138 in December to £368,031 in January, the largest spike in any month since 2015.
But it looks like a buyer’s market still – the number of homes listed is the highest it has been at this time of year since 2014, Rightmove said, and a third of homes currently on the market have seen a price reduction. To make sure your property sells in the golden 11 day sweet spot, price it competitively.
2. Instruct your conveyancing solicitor early
Choose your conveyancing solicitor early, as soon as you decide to list your home, and start pulling paperwork together now if you want to secure a quick sale. Flag up any potential issues now, rather than letting the buyer discover them.
3. Get your house ready for sale
If there are any issues that might come up in a survey and delay the move, consider fixing them now. Energy efficiency improvements are going to be more of a selling point this year and getting an EPC early in the process will give you an advantage.
4. Choose the right buyer
Everyone wants to get the best house price, but if you want to sell quickly as well, then opt for a chain-free buyer who isn’t relying on selling their home to buy yours.
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Laura Miller is an experienced financial and business journalist. Formerly on staff at the Daily Telegraph, her freelance work now appears in the money pages of all the national newspapers. She endeavours to make money issues easy to understand for everyone, and to do justice to the people who regularly trust her to tell their stories. She lives by the sea in Aberystwyth. You can find her tweeting @thatlaurawrites
