If you’ve ever struggled to sell your home after putting it on the market, spare a thought for the owners of these homes which have been listed for up to nearly nine years without a buyer.
A £325,000 three-bedroom detached bungalow in Leicester has been on sale since February 22, 2012 – the longest time of any property in Britain, despite having an ‘excellent sized loft’ and garden with paved area.
Other properties on the market for a very long time include a £57,000 studio flat in Leeds since December 2013 and a £100,000 flat in Nottingham and £1.35million deluxe apartment in Central London, both since 2014.
Also in the top ten are a £280,000 cottage in South Yorkshire since 2014, a £118,000 semi-detached house in West Yorkshire since 2015 and an £89,000 three-bedroom house in Middlesbrough since July 2015.
The data was compiled by Online Mortgage Advisor which found in a study that Oxford is the slowest area of Britain to sell a home, where properties take an average of 152 days to sell with an average price of £400,000.
Other locations which take a long time to sell in include Middlesbrough, which has an average of 149 days despite the average price being just £108,999, while in third place is Slough, with an average of 148 days.
The town is followed closely by Blackpool in fourth with an average of 146 days on the market, before London in fifth. Properties in the capital take 138 days to sell on average, which is 37 days longer than the UK average.
Further locations to make the ten slowest selling areas in the study include Sunderland (130 days), Lincoln (127 days), Newcastle-upon-Tyne (121 days); Bournemouth (115 days) and Blackburn (114 days).
But locations including Edinburgh (45 days), Glasgow (47 days), Dundee (72 days) and Coventry (74 days) are among the fastest for selling a house, with speedy sales also in and Stoke-on-Trent, Bristol and Mansfield.
Here are the 15 homes which have been on the property market via Rightmove for the longest time in Britain, as of November 2020:
1) This three-bedroom bungalow in Leicester has been on the market since February 22, 2012 – the longest time of any property in Britain. The £325,000 detached home has an ‘excellent sized loft’, according to estate agents Spencers of Oadby
2) A studio flat within this student development in Leeds is on sale for £57,000 to cash buyers only as an investment opportunity. It was first put on the market on December 12, 2013 as a flat within a student unit of four or six bedrooms
3) A £100,000 ground-floor flat with two bedrooms and a car parking space in an apartment development near Nottingham city centre is listed as chain free, but has so far failed to sell despite being on the market since February 14, 2014
4) This £1.35million two-bedroom fourth floor apartment featuring 1058 sq ft of living space is situated next to Tower Bridge and the River Thames in London but has failed to sell despite being listed on the market since March 7, 2014
5) This two-bedroom detached cottage in the South Yorkshire village of Hatfield Woodhouse near Doncaster comes with a large rear garden with outbuildings. The £280,000 ‘character property’ has been on the market since November 25, 2014
6) A two-bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Shipley, near Bradford, is on the market for £117,500 and has been listed since February 2015. The stone-built property has a lounge, kitchen diner, two first floor bedrooms and a bathroom
7) A three-bedroom semi-detached house in Middlesbrough is on the market for £89,000, having first been listed on July 7, 2015. It features a decent-sized back garden along with a modern bathroom and kitchen and gravelled front garden
8) A £209,950 four-bedroom property in the Broadgate area of Preston has been on the market since October 22, 2015. The terraced home overlooks the River Ribble and comes with three reception rooms in what is described as a ‘desirable location’
9) This one-bedroom flat in the Shropshire village of Shawbirch near Telford is on the market for £87,950 and has been listed since December 8, 2015. It features off-road parking, a communal garden and a leasehold with 122 years remaining
10) A seven-bedroom home in the Mossley Hill area of Liverpool is on the market for £1.1million, having first been listed on December 16, 2015. It features large private grounds, two living rooms, a designer kitchen, huge basement and fireplaces
11) A one-bedroom retirement apartment in Oxford situated in five and a half acres of grounds is on the market for £160,000, and was first listed on February 3, 2016. It is located next to a care home which features emergency care and housekeeping
12) A three-bedroom duplex on sale for £750,000 in the 23-floor Altolusso building in Cardiff has been on the market since February 25, 2016. It is the highest residential development in Wales and was used during the filming of TV drama Torchwood
13) This four-bedroom detached house in Newsome near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire is on the market for £189,000. The modern property features a garage, a lawned back garden and off-road parking, but was first listed on March 8, 2016
14) A two-bedroom ground floor flat in the Northam Road area of Southampton is on the market for £149,000 and was first listed on March 9, 2016. The property is listed as already having a tenant in situ paying £8,520 a year rent
15) This three-bedroom end-of-terrace house in the Bispham area of Blackpool has been on the market for £114,950 since July 6, 2016. The property is a short walk from the coast and has a rear garden which is 50ft in length along with off-street parking
