Good Move’s 2025 House-Selling Survey 

Selling your home can be a long, drawn-out process and you’ll often find yourself second guessing why it’s not gone sooner and what could possibly be putting off potential buyers. We’ve decided to dig deeper into this, running a survey alongside Find Out Now, to discover the main reasons that homeowners believe a house isn’t selling.

Why wouldn’t a house sell?

There are a whole host of reasons that people believe houses don’t sell – some may be fact and some fiction. In our survey, we found that the main reason people believe a house doesn’t sell is quite simply because the asking price is too high. 62% of people, almost two-thirds, believe that a high asking price is the number one reason for a house staying on the market.

In a housing market being pushed where houses are being pushed higher by inflation, it’s perhaps no surprise that high listings are off-putting for many people. Other reasons people believed a house would struggle to sell included:

• • 47% believe it’s due to the location being undesirable
  • 44% believe it’s because the house needs too much work or updating
  • 42% believe it’s because buyers can’t get mortgages or financing is difficult
  • 17% believe it’s due to poor-quality photos or marketing
  • 9% believe it’s due to there being too much competition from similar homes
  • 9% believe it’s got to be the right time of year for a house to sell

How long does it take a house to sell?

One of the great frustrations of selling a house can be the long wait to find the perfect buyer, especially if you’ve found your next move and are keen to help things move along. When looking at the difference between how long people think it’ll take to sell a house and how long it actually takes them, we noticed some patterns that suggested a disparity between the two.

When asked how long people believed the typical house took to sell, we found that:

• 25% of people believe it takes between 3-4 months
• 24% of people believe it takes between 5-6 months
• 18% of people believe that it takes 1-2 months whilst
• 4% of people believe that it takes over a year
• 1% of people believe that it takes less than a month

When we asked those who’d tried to sell a house how long it had taken, we found:

• 13% of people sold it in 3-4 months
• 11% of people took over 6 months to sell
• 7% of people took 5-6 months to sell
• 3% of people didn’t manage to sell their property

This shows that, despite 25% of people thinking it’d only take 3-4 months to sell, it’s only actually the case for 13% of people. This shows the reality behind selling a home and how long it can take differs from people’s expectations. If you’re looking to sell your house fast, the traditional message of placing it on the housing market might not be the best choice.

Regional and Age Splits

We separated out our data in order to understand how the split between different regions and age groups. This allowed us to get a better understanding of how these demographics feel about buying and selling houses, as well as the reality of the housing market for those demographics.

“What do you believe are the main reasons a house wouldn’t sell?”

Regional

• 77% of the people asked who are based in London cited the asking price being too high as their main belief for why a house wouldn’t sell.
• In Northern Ireland, 80% believed that a house wouldn’t sell due to it needing too much work or updating.
• In Yorkshire, 64% believe that the location being undesirable is the main reason that a house won’t sell.

Age

• 69% of people between 55-64 said the main reason is that the asking price is too high.
• 55% of 25–34-year-olds believe that it’s because the house needs too much work or needs updating.
• 57% of 55-64 believe that it’s because buyers can’t get a mortgage/financing is difficult.

“Have you ever tried to sell a house, and how long did it take you?”

Regional

• 12% in London said they’d tried and hadn’t been able to sell
• 18% in Yorkshire said that it took them over 6 months to sell
• 18% in Wales also said that it took them over 6 months to sell
• According to the data 0% of house sellers in Yorkshire, Wales, London and Scotland managed to sell within a month

Age

• 17% of people aged 55-64 over 6 months to sell their property.
• Only 4% of people aged 35-44 have managed to sell their property within a month whereas over double that (9%) have taken over 6 months to sell their property within the same age bracket.

This survey shows us how there’s a real difference between the expectations and the reality for those looking to sell their home. The process of placing a house on the market and going through estate agents is clearly one that often takes many months.

Using a regulated cash house buyer like Good Move can speed this process up – we aim to buy your property within 10 days. To find out more, click the link below.