Landlords quitting the sector because of high taxation and red tape won’t be able to do so quickly, new figures suggest.
The average time to exchange in the UK is now 123 days or 4.1 months, data from property analytics company TwentyEA has revealed. This is 1.8% or two days more than in 2024.
The longest time to exchange is in Outer London and the East of England at 4.6 months, closely followed by Inner London at 4.2 months.
The North-East is the best performing region in England at 3.6 months, while Scotland with a different legal system, is only 2.9 months – the shortest time of all UK regions.
The chart below gives a breakdown of the time to exchange in each UK region for the year to date.
| UK Region | Time to exchange in 2025 (months) |
| Scotland | 2.9 |
| Northern Ireland | 4.1 |
| North East | 3.6 |
| North West | 4.0 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 3.8 |
| East Midlands | 4.0 |
| West Midlands | 3.9 |
| Wales | 3.8 |
| East of England | 4.6 |
| Outer London | 4.6 |
| Inner London | 4.2 |
| South East | 4.5 |
| South West | 4.3 |
And the chart below demonstrates how the time to exchange has crept up since 2019.
| Year | Time to exchange (days) UK | Times to exchange (months) UK |
| 2019 | 91 | 3.0 |
| 2020 | 95 | 3.1 |
| 2021 | 109 | 3.6 |
| 2022 | 130 | 4.3 |
| 2023 | 121 | 4.0 |
| 2024 | 121 | 4.0 |
| 2025 | 123 | 4.1 |
Katy Billany, executive director of TwentyEA, says: “Our 2025 data shows that ‘time to exchange’ continues to vary significantly by region, from around 2.9 months in Scotland to 4.6 months in Outer London and the East of England.
“This underlines how local market conditions and legal-system differences remain major drivers of transaction speed. Nationwide, the average has crept up over recent years (from roughly 3.0 months in 2019 to about 4.1 months in 2025), confirming that the trend towards longer waits to exchange contracts is far from resolved.
“With many buyers waiting four months or more just to exchange, this extended timeline puts pressure on affordability, adds uncertainty for sellers and buyers alike, and magnifies the risk of fall-throughs, especially when interest rates or economic conditions shift part-way through the process.
“In our opinion, the government’s consultation, focussed on reducing transaction timelines and costs for buyers, especially first-time buyers cannot conclude fast enough. As a group, TwentyCi has committed to Project 28 which aims to slash the time from ‘sale agreed’ to exchange from roughly 100+ days down to just 28, a major step toward reliability, transparency and fewer failed sales.
“With this growing focus and industry momentum, we’re hopeful that steps toward meaningful change will begin to take shape as we move into 2026.”
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