HOUSE sale transactions are taking an average of 125 days to complete across Hexham postcodes since the beginning of the pandemic, according to new data.

Professional house buying firm Property Solvers’ speed of sale tool revealed it takes an average of 17.86 weeks to sell a property in Hexham's (NE46, NE47 and NE48) postcodes.

Sellers were waiting up to 144 days on average in the NE48 postcode.

It takes around 25 weeks to sell a home on average, according to Zoopla. 

Lesley Reed, branch manager at Red Hot Property in Hexham, said it takes an estimated 16 weeks for a sale to go through.

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She said there is a high demand for three and four-bedroom family homes in Hexham. 

Ms Reed explained people wanting to move into the area sometimes move into the outskirts such as Acomb or Haltwhistle, where prices are cheaper than Hexham.

Property Solvers' latest dataset analyzed over 59 regional property sales between February 2023 and February 2024.

The statistics track when a property is listed on the UK’s largest property portal Rightmove to the point it’s marked as officially ‘sold’ at the HM Land Registry.

In the NE46 and NE48 postcodes, out of 45 tracked properties in the 12 months to February 2024, home sellers were waiting 135 days on average from listing to completion.

Harry Douglas, director at Harry Douglas Estate Agency, said: "Over the past five years, the timeline for transacting has increased. It can take three to four months from the time an offer is accepted to the time of completion.”

“2023 was a challenging year, though there are positive signs for the property market across the Tyne Valley. In 2023, properties across the Tyne Valley sold for an average of £280,200. This represents a nearly 9 per cent increase in the average annual sale price from 2018.”

Properties sold fastest in the NE46 and NE47 postcodes. 55 homes in these areas took 115 days to sell on average.

Property Solvers co-founder, Ruban Selvanayagam commented: “Although buyer demand hasn’t waned over the course of the pandemic, the length of time for transactions to complete has certainly lengthened.

“Operational activity has still pretty much continued, but the home sales industry – like many others – has had to learn to adapt over the last year. Many solicitors, mortgage brokers and other professionals in our sector have been working from home which has often resulted in administrative and other operational delays.

“However, with positive news around the vaccine roll-out, as more people gradually return to offices and agencies, we’re cautiously optimistic about things picking up over the course of the year.”