The fastest-selling property market in the UK right now is Glasgow, where homes reach an agreed offer in a median of just 11 days.
The Speed of Sale Index: how fast are houses selling near you?
Some homes sell 5x faster than others - and it's not about the house.
Where are homes selling fastest in the UK right now?
Fastest and slowest selling cities in the UK
These rankings show the median days on market for every major UK city, measured from listing to agreed offer, using Alto Speed of Sale data from the first half of 2026. The fastest cities typically agree offers in under two weeks, while the slowest take closer to two months.
Analysis
Many of the fastest markets are in the north and Scotland
The fastest markets sit almost entirely outside London and the south east. Glasgow leads the field at a median of 11 days, and seven of the top ten agree offers within three weeks. A number of the cities on the list are in lower-priced areas in northern England and Scotland, where demand tends to outrun available stock.
Cardiff is the clear exception on geography. Homes in the Welsh capital reach an offer in a median of 15 days on 342 sales. It is pricier than some of the northern cities on the list but still cheaper than comparable capitals and southern cities, so demand tends to outrun supply.
Manchester and Sheffield are the clearest cases of speed holding at scale, each clearing more than 900 agreed offers at medians of 22 and 25 days, which points to strong and sustained buyer demand.
The slowest cities mix the Midlands and pricier markets
The slower markets are more scattered, spread across the Midlands and several higher-priced cathedral and university cities rather than one region.
Wakefield is slowest at a median of 63 days on 177 sales, and the other nine in the bottom ten range from 37 to 53 days. Cities like Cambridge and York are considered pricier or period-stock cities where higher asking prices tend to slow the search for a buyer.
Nottingham is the clearest case of a slow market that stays busy, clearing 1,407 agreed offers at a median of 42 days, which points to steady demand meeting a slower sales process.
Selling speed matters for buyers and sellers
It’s useful to know how long it typically takes to sell a home in your area because it sets expectations. Sellers can see whether their price fits the local market, and buyers can gauge how much room they have to negotiate before they make an offer.
FOR SELLERS
How long will it take to sell my house?
Most homes sell within a month or two, but where you are makes a big difference — from around 11 days in the fastest cities to 63 in the slowest. A good guide is how long other homes near you are taking to sell. Knowing the local pace can help you decide on pricing and time a move, since a faster market gives you a better chance of lining up your sale and onward purchase without a long gap in between.
FOR BUYERS
Is it a buyer’s or a seller’s market?
It depends on how fast homes are selling where you’re looking. In slower markets, where homes take well over a month to reach an offer, sellers tend to be more open to offers below asking, particularly on homes that have been listed a while. In faster cities like Glasgow or Manchester the opposite is true, and waiting too long on a well-priced home can mean losing it. Checking the local median with Alto’s Speed of Sale Index before you offer gives you a sense of how much negotiating room you actually have.
Every agent should track speed of sale
For estate agents, a clear grasp of how fast homes are selling in your area is part of doing the job well. It shapes the advice you give at valuation and the timeline you set with a seller. An agent who has used Alto’s Speed of Sale Index and knows how long it typically takes to get an offer in their area can price and plan with confidence.
The faster a market moves, the more important it is to have the right system in place to keep sight of every deal and act quickly when an offer comes in. This is where Alto helps. As the UK’s leading estate agency CRM, Alto brings sales, lettings, property management and reporting together in one cloud-based system.
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Frequently asked questions
The Speed of Sale Index measures the median time homes take to go from listing to agreed offer, using live data from around a third of UK estate agents. It covers more than 70,000 agreed offers between 1 January and 11 June 2026. We use the median, not the average, because a few unusually slow or mis-dated listings can distort an average. The national figure of around 35 days is an offers-weighted estimate. Cities and regions are grouped by postcode.
Days on market is the number of days from a home first being listed to the seller accepting an offer. The Index reports the median, the midpoint where half of homes reach an offer faster and half slower.
An agreed offer is the point where a seller accepts a buyer’s offer. It comes before legal completion, so days to agreed offer measures how quickly a home finds a buyer rather than how long the whole sale takes.
The Speed of Sale Index is updated every quarter. The current edition covers 1 January to 11 June 2026, and the next will cover the second half of 2026.
You can check your own town or city using the interactive tool at the top of this page. Enter your location to see the median time homes take to reach an agreed offer where you live, based on Alto’s live transaction data.
Glasgow is currently the fastest place to sell a house in the UK, where homes reach an agreed offer in a median of 11 days (based on 164 sales in the first half of 2026). Cardiff is the next fastest at a median of 15 days from 342 sales, followed by Worcester at 16 days, based on 52 sales.
Wakefield is the slowest place to sell a house in the UK, where homes take a median of 63 days to reach an agreed offer across 177 sales in the first half of 2026. Swansea is close behind at a median of 53 days from 178 sales, and Peterborough follows at 49 days from 181.