London homebuyers are facing a frustrating reality: they’re waiting longer than anyone else in the UK to seal the deal on their property purchases. Fresh figures from quick-buying platform OneDome paint a stark picture, with Islington in north London clocking the nation’s slowest transactions at a painstaking five months.
Across the capital, completion times are dragging, and the data shows just how much patience buyers need to muster.
OneDome’s 2024 analysis reveals London as the UK’s hotspot for drawn-out deals.
Alongside Islington’s 152-day average, Bexley (133 days), Greenwich (129 days), and Redbridge (126 days) rank among the country’s top five tardiest boroughs.
Yet, not all of London lags—Tower Hamlets bucks the trend with a brisk 62 days, the fastest in the UK and more than twice as quick as its northern neighbour.
“Sadly, in some parts of the country, they [buyers] can face a wait of several months due to complex property chains, delays with searches and lots of legal wrangling among all those involved,” says Babek Ismayil, Founder and CEO at OneDome.
Beyond the capital, Swansea shines with completions in just 67 days, while Wales as a whole averages a sprightly 101 days.
The West Midlands, at 113 days, takes the crown for England’s slowest outside London.
Nationally, property sales averaged 108 days—or just over three months—in 2024.
Ismayil isn’t impressed: “Transaction times in the UK have only modestly improved in recent years and an average of 15 weeks is still too long.” He’s calling for action, noting, “The Government talks about speeding up the transaction process through digitisation, but that could take years, and buyers need change now.”
For London’s property hunters, these delays could mean the difference between nabbing a dream home and watching it slip away.
With the capital’s market split between sluggish boroughs and rare fast-movers, buyers might wonder: is your postcode holding you back?