Estate agents ‘need just SEVEN hours of viewings on average to sell a home’
Despite the time it takes, sellers complain about having to keep the house presentable as well as short notice cancellations, says leading property group.
It takes just seven hours of viewings to secure a buyer in the current market with the average seller hosting six different buyers over three separate viewings per buyer, latest research from Open Property Group reveals.
On average sellers had to entertain six (6.34) different buyers before securing an offer on their property with each buyer viewing their property three times (3.23) during the viewing process and each viewing lasting an average of 22 minutes (22.04).
BIGGEST BUGBEAR
On that basis, the average seller has to host some 19 (18.9) viewings and spend 415.8 minutes, or 6.93 hours, to the viewing of their home before they secure an offer.
And despite the time it takes it seems one of the biggest bugbears for sellers is having to keep the house presentable as well as short notice cancellations. Sellers also complained about having to make themselves available for 19 separate viewings over the course of their sale.
Invasion of privacy and having to hide valuable items from plain site also irked with one in five (21%) finding the viewings process the most annoying.
Jason Harris-Cohen, Chief Executive of Open Property Group, says: “It’s estimated that from initial listing to completion, the average home takes 25 weeks to sell – that’s 4,200 hours.
“Even in current market conditions where buyer demand levels have dropped, just seven of those hours are required to tackle the viewing process and secure an offer.”
PROTRACTED PROCESS
He adds: “This illustrates just how protracted the property selling process is, with the remaining 4,193 hours consumed by admin, the back and forth of offers submitted, survey requirements, chain delays, fall throughs and further negotiations.
“And while it may take just seven hours to tackle the viewing process, this is an inconvenience in itself, with sellers having to make themselves available for multiple buyers wanting multiple viewings, across numerous days and weeks.”
