Homeowners in Wigan face four-month delays when selling their property

Wigan homeowners face delays of around four months between listing and selling a property, depending on their postcode
A sign showing a house up for saleA sign showing a house up for sale
A sign showing a house up for sale

According to Property Solvers, a house-buying firm, the average time between listing to completion in the borough is 16.6 weeks but this ranges from 15 to 18 weeks across Wigan.

Other news: Man, 21, dies following crash with petrol tanker on M6 in WiganThe company’s house market insight tool analysed over 480 property sales across the region between May 2018 and May 2019.The data tracks the moment a property is listed on the UK’s largest property portal Rightmove to the point it is marked as officially ‘sold’ at the HM Land Registry.

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In the WN4 and WN6 postcodes, which includes areas such as Ashton, Standish, Appley Bridge, Shevington and Standish Lower Ground, out of the 126 tracked properties in the 12-month-period, home sellers were waiting 18 weeks on average from listing to completion.

On the other end of the scale, properties were selling the fastest in the WN8 postcode which includes Upholland, Parbold and Skelmersdale. According to the table, 60 homes in these areas took 15 weeks to sell on average.

Ruban Selvanayagam, from the company, said: “Although there are some natural delays to be expected, it’s surprising that it takes so long for house sales to go through – especially in the digital age we live in.

"Whilst it’s true that the estate agency, conveyancing and mortgage industries continue to embrace the benefits of tech, much work needs to be done to overcome the friction across house sale chains.”

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The data table also shows that the average Wigan homeowner loses around £4,214 between listing and sale.

Again there are discrepancies depending on area. The highest average loss is in WN6, where homeowners miss out on around £4,744. In contrast, people living in WN7 - which includes Leigh, Westleigh and Pennington, miss out on around £3,329 on average.

However, Mr Selvanayagam said that this has less to do with delays of sale, and more to do with negotiation.

“If a house is up for £100,000, most people would go in at a lower offer at say £90,000,” he said. “The seller may then meet halfway at say £95,000, although often many insist on getting the asking price.

"Other times, the property is priced too highly initially which means that the seller has to be a bit more realistic and cut it down.”