EvilEdna Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 I was looking at the latest Rightmove HP Index today, and I notice they have a "time to sell" metric, which currently is at 56 days nationally. Now, this is an obvious lie, I can't construe it in any other way. It doesn't take 2 months on average to sell your home. My question is, does anyone know what the figure actually refers to? I can't find it anywhere in the report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CentrinoDuo Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Why are you so convinced that this is a 'lie'? Rightmove is a publicly listed company traded in LSE. They won't be spouting 'lies' for legal reasons. I'm sure it's correct *based on their definition* of time to sell. I can't find the definition in RightMove but from here: https://propertymoose.co.uk/blog/time-to-sell/ it refers to: Quote The term “time to sell” is “an average for all properties and the timescale is from when a property is first marketed on Rightmove to when the estate agent marks it as ‘sold subject to contract.’” Honestly, I don't think they tweak this number, it's just a database query, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tes Tickle Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Why do you think it's wrong? From what I've seen while currently looking to buy, there's a long-standing heap of overpriced dross filling up their website but there are regularly decent houses listed at more sensible prices and these usually sell within a few days. We're currently just window-shopping, usually every week or so, but the decent ones that we would be interested in usually aren't there the week after. If you look on any given day you'll see the rubbish that's been hanging around for ever, but the decent ones vanish pretty much straight away. I reckon 56 days could be about what the dross and decent buys might average out at. If we overlook the fact that some estate agents remove then relist their dross in an attempt to get attention - this will make this figure artificially low. I don't know what it's a measure of though, a lower figure might be bad news for buyers or it might mean that sellers have got more sensible about their asking price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmin Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 53 minutes ago, EvilEdna said: I was looking at the latest Rightmove HP Index today, and I notice they have a "time to sell" metric, which currently is at 56 days nationally. I'm assuming that means 56 days from listing to accepting an offer, which seems plausible (though this probably does not include the properties which never sell - how would they be included?). Six months is probably a realistic time-frame from listing to completion and quite likely longer if a chain is involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 The time it takes to sell depends on what price is asked......no sellers without a willing and able buyer.....best to not look at what is in demand today, look to what will be in demand tomorrow..... different places, different viable and acheiveable prices.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tes Tickle Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 16 minutes ago, Kosmin said: I'm assuming that means 56 days from listing to accepting an offer, which seems plausible (though this probably does not include the properties which never sell - how would they be included?). Six months is probably a realistic time-frame from listing to completion and quite likely longer if a chain is involved. That's a very good point - if someone lists at a stupid price for a year then concludes that "nobody's buying these days" and takes it off the market then this will add nothing to the overall figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilEdna Posted July 16, 2018 Author Share Posted July 16, 2018 55 minutes ago, Tes Tickle said: That's a very good point - if someone lists at a stupid price for a year then concludes that "nobody's buying these days" and takes it off the market then this will add nothing to the overall figure. Agreed, then it begins to make more sense, at least to me. 56 days strikes me as wildly implausible because I follow properties in my area, and I know how long they sit in estate agent windows doing nothing. Perhaps my area is just wildly different from the rest of the country... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Kirk Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 12 minutes ago, EvilEdna said: Agreed, then it begins to make more sense, at least to me. 56 days strikes me as wildly implausible because I follow properties in my area, and I know how long they sit in estate agent windows doing nothing. Perhaps my area is just wildly different from the rest of the country... 56 days is just an average. Some may sell in 2 days, others in 100 days. Shame though. I thought you were telling everyone it's time to sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePiltdownMan Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5953445/Rotherham-Knightsbridge-worst-places-sell-house-UK.html It's longer according to this article, but exactly what the timespan covers is somewhat ambiguous: Quote These periods are the time from going on the market to accepting an offer taking into consideration surveys, conveyancing and other legalities that add days to a deal being completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Confusion of VIs Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 3 hours ago, EvilEdna said: I was looking at the latest Rightmove HP Index today, and I notice they have a "time to sell" metric, which currently is at 56 days nationally. Now, this is an obvious lie, I can't construe it in any other way. It doesn't take 2 months on average to sell your home. My question is, does anyone know what the figure actually refers to? I can't find it anywhere in the report. It is not a lie but it is meaningless without more information. If it is the time takes to receive an offer, what about: houses that do not sell and the listing is removed - are these included/ignored offers that do not proceed to completion, it appears these are still counted as a sale In a quiet market these two factors will have a huge impact upon the average time to receive an offer that results in a sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arpeggio Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 4 hours ago, Tes Tickle said: That's a very good point - if someone lists at a stupid price for a year then concludes that "nobody's buying these days" and takes it off the market then this will add nothing to the overall figure. and of the few that did sell, how many of these were relisted to make it look like they hadn't been on offer for as long? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 It's probably an average of 56 days to sell among the properties that actually sell. The properties that don't sell and either languish on the market for years or are taken off when the seller gives up will not contribute to this average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmin Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 29 minutes ago, Arpeggio said: and of the few that did sell, how many of these were relisted to make it look like they hadn't been on offer for as long? 42% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmin Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 3 hours ago, Captain Kirk said: Shame though. I thought you were telling everyone it's time to sell. Me too! I think everyone reading this already knows this though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverick73 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Britain’s housing market saw a glut of new property offered for sale this month, keeping a lid on prices at a time when sales typically suffer from a seasonal lull, property website Rightmove said on Monday. Link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinistryMan Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Definitely a meaningless stat intended to keep people signing up with RM. 56 days just sounds better than ‘nearly two months’! What it does do is highlight the stark contrast between what RM want people to think and what is actually happening out there...and it’s things like this (the bit the masses don’t spot) that excites me! 56 days is misleading looking at property around me. 20 listings in total, within 1 mile of us (commuter village) in the last 2 years. 1 dorma bungalow has sold within 18months £285k 1 three bed (£185k) has been STC for 4 months The rest have all been relisted multiple times over 3 or more years. The worst is a 385k barn conversion for 11years. Most are 3/4 bed £280 - 400k, dearest 2 are on for over 900k. Both previously on for 1.1m plus. Average wage in the county £23k and 30mins from Chester. My brothers 2 bed terrace cottage (beautiful and well appointed) took over 2 years and sold in February...12k reduction from asking price of 108k. The area is bonkers....nothing is moving. It’s just relist after relist. A rotation of 5 different agents taking turns to ponce around. Sale sign goes up, then STC. STC comes down, different agent sign appears. The merry go round has been like this here for so many years friends visiting joke about it. The Agents know it too...I was in school with two of them and know them well. Anyway, let’s see if that 56 days starts to tick up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janch Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 EAs and RM consider a property as "sold" when an offer is accepted by the seller. They conveniently forget that lots can go wrong between this and the final completion of the deal when the buyer (or mortgage company) hands over the money and gets the keys. In the EAs world 56 days for an average sale is probably about right. In the real world where people if they are lucky and actually transact, deals fall through or drag on for months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluteroop Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 23 hours ago, Captain Kirk said: 56 days is just an average. Some may sell in 2 days, others in 100 days. Shame though. I thought you were telling everyone it's time to sell. Haha that's what I thought too. Maybe it includes relists and wipes their previous time on market though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tes Tickle Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 You get places that look good but have some fundamental failing so buyers walk away every time it's surveyed or they get the search reports, e.g. there's a planning application to build a McDonalds next door or it's made from prefabricated asbestos. I bet there's nothing stopping this sort of problem house from skewing the average by "selling" multiple times, if it keeps getting an offer a couple of weeks after it's listed before they pull out and it then becomes a new listing, ready to "sell" again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyguy Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Nearly two months sounds great to the places I follow where 5 years up for sale and still not shifted is more common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmin Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 An EA put this on ad in Hove: "This property had been listed with other agents for 15 months. We then sold in 10 weeks." Almost 18 months then. It didn't say whether they cut the price, or what was asked and what it sold for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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