Birmingham, one of the worst cities in the UK to sell a house – with two problems causing misery

Birmingham has been named in the top three worst cities to sell a house. The city earned the grim accolade after research found Brummie homeowners are struggling to sell their properties due to high market prices and high interest rates.

As a result of these factors, there are fewer people buying homes and it takes longer for properties to finally sell. The difficulty of finding buyers is also particularly acute in Leicester and, unsurprisingly, London, the Express reported.

Just one in seven properties listed with the nation’s estate agents have found a buyer within 30 days of going on the market, according to new research. The research comes from estate agent comparison site GetAgent.co.uk, which found that just 14.3% of properties recently listed for sale in England found a buyer in the last 30 days.

READ MORE: Birmingham housing crisis set to become worst in UK, warning

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And the figures make for unsettling reading for those hoping to sell their homes in Birmingham. The firm said: “Leicester is home to the lowest level of homes selling at pace, with only 9.8% of all current stock for sale finding a buyer within 30 days. London also ranks poorly in this regard (11.6%), as does Birmingham. (15.8 percent).”

A breakdown of the figures shows that just 48 out of 492 properties listed in Leicester were sold within 30 days. The figure was 2,117 out of 18,299 in London and 267 out of 1,692 in Birmingham.

In contrast, the market was most active in Sheffield, with a relatively impressive 22.9% of homes listed with agents in Sheffield finding a buyer. And the city’s housing woes don’t end there, we recently reported that Birmingham’s housing market will be short of homes in two decades, according to new research from socio-economic experts at Marrons.

Birmingham is experiencing home ownership problems as 40% of its residents are under the age of 25 and will need their own homes within the next two decades. At the same time, the city is dealing with under-occupancy of seniors’ properties, where many people over 65 remain in homes far larger than they need, the Marrons team explained. You can read more about it here.

GetAgent.co.uk co-founder Colby Short said: “Even in the fastest selling areas of the market, there is a disappointing number of properties that have accepted a sale in the first 30 days. Additionally, not all of these sales will go through and many will need to be re-listed. This shows that it is still difficult to sell a property in the current market.

“However, many agents do a great job of pricing appropriately, maximizing the exposure of their listings and managing to close the sale.

“If you’re a homeowner looking to sell, make sure you look at what the agent has sold for recently, how long it took them to sell and, if possible, what percentage of the asking price they -they touched”.