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Britain takes 120 days to buy a home, the US 30: how the reform compares with the rest of the world

ended 21. June 2026

The Government's homebuying overhaul, announced on Friday 19 June 2026, aims to fix a process that is slow and prone to collapse. The average home purchase takes around 120 days and roughly one in three sales falls through, costing sellers about £400 million a year and the wider economy up to £1.5 billion.

Almost every measure mirrors something another country already does. In the United States a sale completes in 30 to 45 days, in Australia 4 to 6 weeks, because a deal becomes legally binding within days of an offer. In England and Wales nothing is binding until exchange, often months after the handshake, which is why around a third of sales collapse, against 5 to 15 percent in Germany, the US and France. The upfront sales packs echo Scotland's Home Report; earlier binding contracts echo Australia and Scotland; the digital logbooks echo Norway.

Question for property experts: looking abroad, which single change would do the most to stop UK sales falling through, and where does the reform still fall short?

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Evren Ergin
Founder And Developer at ValuQ
England and Wales is one of the only major property markets in the world where an accepted offer is not binding. In the United States a sale completes in around 30 days, in Australia in four to six weeks, because the deal binds within days. Here nothing is binding until exchange, often months later, and that single gap is why close to a third of our sales collapse, against five to fifteen percent across much of Europe.

The reform borrows the right ideas. The upfront sales packs are Scotland's Home Report. The earlier binding is Australia. The digital logbooks are Norway. It is the most serious attempt to fix this in twenty years.

But it stops one step short of the change that actually works: making an offer binding at the point it is accepted, not weeks later. Until an accepted offer means what it says, the chain stays as fragile as it has always been, and the £1.5 billion a year that falls through the cracks keeps falling.
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Editor
Chris Barry
Director at Thomas Legal
England and Wales have one of the longest times between sale agreed to exchange of contracts. The saying, “time kills deals” is very real and we see a substantial spike in abortive matters which exceed 120 days.

You haven’t got to look far for a solution and process which works far better. Scotland are not only doing well in the World Cup, they are also winning when it comes to the house buying process.

England and wales have historic and outdated land registry, legal process and an acceptance that vendors don’t enjoy committing financially until a buyer is committed.

The process needs a vendor to financial invest in the sale process by getting legally prepared prior to marketing. This will allow a buyer to act quickly, reducing fall through rates and guzumping.
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Nouran Moustafa
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
The single biggest change would be making a sale binding far earlier, but only once the buyer has seen the key facts.

In England and Wales, buyers and sellers can spend thousands on surveys, searches, legal work and mortgage applications while either side can still walk away months later. That is not a serious transaction process; it is an expensive holding pattern.

Upfront information is essential, but it will not fix fall-throughs alone. Sellers should provide title documents, lease details, service charges, planning history, building-safety information and a clear condition record before marketing.

Then, after a short due-diligence period, both sides should face real financial consequences for pulling out without a valid reason.

The reform falls short if it creates more paperwork without changing when commitment begins. We do not need a faster version of the same broken process. We need fewer surprises and a system where “sold subject to contract” actually means something.