Bolsover named as a home-selling hotspot

Bolsover has ranked third in the country in the new research by estate agent comparison website GetAgent for time taken from listing a home for sale to completion.

GetAgent used data from all of the major online portals to record the point a home was listed for sale online and cross-referenced it with the Land Registry’s sale date.

It found properties in Selby, North Yorkshire, completed the quickest, in 118 days, ahead of the Cotswolds, at 148 days and Bolsover at 175 days.

Hayley Stansbury, office manager at Wilson Estate Agents, Market Place, Bolsover, said the town’s impressive record was down to “the service you get from local companies”, such as estate agents, solicitors and mortgage advisers.

The slowest area was North West Leicestershire at 528 days – about 13 months longer than Selby – behind Barnet in North London at 510 days and Cannock Chase, West Midlands, at 491 days.

Colby Short, GetAgent founder, said: “The property market is incredibly diverse, so it’s hardly surprising that the time it’s taking to complete on a property purchase differs considerably from one area to the next, just as the value of a property will differ from one area of the market to another."

However, there are fears completion times will rise as solicitors and mortgage companies struggle to cope with demand.

The looming deadline for the end of the stamp duty holiday – a reduction of the tax on house sales by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to boost the property market during the coronavirus crisis – is causing a slow down as people rush to try to complete before the deadline, increasing the workload for mortgage companies and solicitors.

Mr Short said: “There remains a notable backlog of transactions waiting to complete and so it looks as though these delays will remain for some time.”

Estate agents in Bolsover have reported a demand for homes, but a lack of suitable properties available, meaning the market felt “quite slow at the moment”.

Mrs Stansbury said: “Covid has had an impact and the housing market has a real problem with a lack of stock.

“We’re seeing lots of viewings, there’s lots of demand, but little stock.”