About time: The fastest and slowest moving housing markets revealed

It may not seem like Waltham Forest in north east London and Manchester have an awful lot in common, but they both top Zoopla’s ranking of the fastest-moving housing markets. Homes in these two city locations sat on the market for just 19 days in the first three months of this year.

At £525,000, house prices in Waltham Forest are the highest in the 10-strong list, while Manchester’s are a more affordable £240,000.

Carlisle in Cumbria came in third place, with properties in this more rural spot near the Scottish border going under offer in 20 days.

Other areas in the top 10 include:

• Stockport on the edge of Manchester, Gateshead in Tyne & Wear, and Redditch in Worcestershire (all 22 days)
• Newcastle-upon-Tyne (23 days)
• Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire (24 days)
• Halton in Cheshire and south Gloucestershire (both 25 days).

Zoopla suggests that properties tend to sell faster in more affordable places. Across England and Wales, it typically took 36 days between a home listed for sale and a deal agreed. But homes in the north west and north east of England took an average 32 days to sell and account for six of the top 10 areas.

And now for the areas where homes took the longest to sell. Well, there’s a fair few beauty spots in this list.

Denbighshire has been crowned the slowest-moving housing market, with homes in this picturesque corner of north Wales sitting on the market for 62 days. It’s closely followed by Westminster in London (61 days).

East Lindsay in Lincolnshire and Gwynedd in Wales came in joint third place. Homes in both these scenic pockets on the coast took 59 days to go under offer.

Other places to make the ranking are:

• Angus in Scotland and Kensington & Chelsea in London (58 days)
• Canterbury in Kent and Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire (56 days)
• North Devon (55 days)
• Blaenau Gwent in Wales (54 days).

So, what’s behind these slow-moving markets? Over to Zoopla, which says that while buyer appetite has climbed across southern England, it’s not keeping pace with the jump in homes for sale.

And the property portal is pretty unambiguous in its reasoning: ‘With 150 councils across the UK introducing double council tax for second homes, second-home hotspots like coastal towns are seeing a boost in supply, something that is significantly affecting the length of time it takes for properties to sell in these areas.’