Britain’s fastest (and slowest) property markets in 2024

With new research naming Britain’s house-selling hotspots, we reveal the best and worst places to list a property if you’re looking for a quick sale.

Homes in Carluke in Scotland sell faster than anywhere else in Britain, with the typical property taking just 24 days to find a buyer, according to research from Rightmove.

Having an average house price of £158,904, the town has a population of approximately 13,500 and is famous for its fruit-growing and jam production.

At the other end of the scale, Swanage in Dorset has the slowest housing market, with a typical home taking 136 days to sell at an asking price of £434,203.

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Scotland comes out on top

In good news for those north of the border, the research found that nine of the 10 fastest-selling markets are in Scotland.

That's perhaps unsurprising, given the Scottish property market has seen the most dramatic price rises by some distance in the last year.

Falkirk took second place, with an average selling time of 26 days and an asking price of £162,972.

Meanwhile, Larbert came in third, with homes typically taking 27 days to find a buyer and having an asking price of £162,972.

The 10 quickest-selling property markets in Britain

Ranking	Area	Region	Average number of days to sell a home	Average asking price
1	Carluke	Scotland	24	£158,904
2	Falkirk	Scotland	26	£162,972
3	Larbert	Scotland	27	£231,293
4	Upton	South West	27	£349,756
5	Troon	Scotland	27	£186,595
6	Port Glasgow	Scotland	27	£124,417
7	Irvine	Scotland	28	£121,548
8	Wishaw	Scotland	29	£135,528
9	Bellshill	Scotland	29	£124,661
10	Denny	Scotland	30	£172,334

Interestingly, all of the areas in the top 10 have an asking price below the national average of £359,748 (according to Rightmove data from earlier this year).

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The 10 slowest property markets in Britain

Ranking	Area	Region	Average number of days to sell a home	Average asking price
1	Swanage	South West	136	£434,203
2	St Ives, Cornwall	South West	129	£482,818
3	Skegness	East Midlands	127	£202,719
4	Werrington	East of England	126	£269,151
5	Old Colwyn	Wales	123	£227,212
6	Tettenhall Wood	West Midlands	122	£381,671
7	Bradwell	East of England	120	£271,483
8	Shanklin	Isle of Wight	119	£303,128
9	Cinderford	South West	119	£247,388
10	Bixham	South West	119	£322,801

It’s striking that some of these regions, such as St Ives, are coastal hotspots and experienced a huge surge in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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How fast are properties selling in your region?

As well as naming the fastest- and slowest-selling areas, the research looked at average sale times in every region of Britain.

Unsurprisingly, Scotland came out as the quickest-selling region, with the average property being on the market for 43 days.

In contrast, Wales was bottom in the ranking, with the typical house taking 82 days to sell.

Region	Average number of days to sell a home	Change from last year (in days)
Scotland	43	+3
North East	64	+11
UK	71	+14
West Midlands	71	+16
North West	72	+14
South West	73	+18
London	73	+3
South East	73	+15
Yorkshire and The Humber	73	+16
East of England	75	+19
East Midlands	78	+18
Wales	82	+18

Read our complete guide to selling your property

A national slowdown in property sales

On a national level, homeowners in all regions are taking longer to find a buyer than at this time last year, with the average selling time standing at 71 days.

This represents a 14-day slowdown from 2023 and is the longest selling time since 2019.

The researchers partly attributed this increase to higher mortgage rates creating affordability problems for some house hunters.