The time it takes to complete a property transaction in Great Britain continues to increase, with the most notable changes occurring since the pandemic. In April, the average time from the time a property goes under offer to the exchange of contracts reached 104 days, according to the latest data provided by Connell, compared with 76 days in 2019 and about 60 days in the early 2010s.
The estate agency revealed in its latest market update that more than half of transactions are taking longer to reach the exchange to secure a buyer. In April, 61% of deals took longer to close than it took to find a buyer after the offer was accepted.
Long deadlines are affecting transaction stability. About 17% of homes on offer now take more than six months to reach exchange, up from 13% a year ago and 5% a decade ago. As the time frame increases, buyers and sellers have to deal with changes in mortgage pricing, survey results and personal circumstances for longer periods of time, which can increase the likelihood of deals falling through later in the process.
The gap between cash and mortgage transactions has also increased slightly after unification in 2024. In April, mortgage-financed purchases took nine days longer to reach the exchange than cash purchases. While this gap is smaller than the 15-day gap seen in April 2022, it reflects renewed divergence amid ongoing mortgage market adjustments.
Leasehold transactions take significantly longer than freehold sales. In April, the average leasehold property took 155 days to reach the exchange, while the freehold property took 97 days. The gap of 58 days between the two is the largest on record, up from 13 days before the pandemic. This increase is linked to additional legal requirements and delays in receiving information from managing agents.
Its impact is most pronounced in areas with a high proportion of flats, including London and other major urban centres, where leasehold properties make up a large proportion of transactions.
Fall-through rates have remained broadly stable overall, but differences between property types have increased. In 2025, 37% of agreed sales were not completed. Freehold fall-through stood at 36% compared to 43% for leasehold transactions. In 2019, the difference between the two was within two percentage points.
The data shows that leasehold transactions are more likely to collapse at the buyer level. Last year, 12% sellers pulled out of both freehold and leasehold deals. However, 25% of freehold buyers pulled out compared to 34% of leasehold buyers.
In terms of time, freehold transactions that fail typically fail after 85 days, while leasehold deals fail after an average of 115 days. This indicates that the additional time required to gather and review leasehold information can advance the transaction before problems arise.
Late stage decline has also become common. In 2025, 23% of all failed transactions occurred more than three months after an offer was agreed, up from 18% in 2019. For flats, the proportion increased from 26% to 29%, while for houses it increased from 17% to 19%.
Anisha Beveridge, research director at Connells Group, commented: “For the first time, on record, sales are now taking an average of more than 100 days to progress from agreed offer to exchange. This highlights how much longer the transaction process has become, particularly since the pandemic. Extra scrutiny, longer chains and stricter legal and compliance requirements are all adding up to time, with leasehold purchases emerging as the biggest contributors to delays.
“The effect of this is that buyers and sellers are exposed for a longer period of time once a deal has been agreed, and we are seeing more transactions decline later in the process. Since sales take longer to work their way through the system, buyers become more exposed to changes in mortgage rates and home prices if conditions change during that period. This extended uncertainty creates further uncertainty down the line. This doesn’t just matter for the housing market. – Delayed or unsuccessful steps could also impact consumer confidence, labor mobility and, ultimately, macroeconomic growth.