Houses in one town in Kent are being sold faster than anywhere else in the country, according to new figures.

Buyers are swooping on Rochester meaning homes are being snapped up on average in 52 days – almost twice as fast as the overall rate for England and Wales.

The market in London has slowed down considerably during the pandemic with the 10 places with the longest time on the market all in the capital.

The median price of a home in Rochester is £260,000 – just below the England average of £266,532, according to the latest government house price index released last week.

Prices are lower than average property prices in the South East which at £342,420 increased by 6.4% between January 2020 and January 2021.

Figures released by home-buying website Quick Move Now and property search engine Home.co.uk found Rochester topped the list ahead of rivals Bedford, Swindon and Gloucester.

Hastings was the only other town in the top 10 in the South East which on average saw a property sell in 58 days at an average price of £275,000.

The national average is 133 days.

Mayfair (272 days), where the median property price is £2.25m, Soho (250) and Marylebone (246) in central London saw the slowest sell times across the country.

Danny Luke, managing director of Quick Move Now, said: “It has been well-documented throughout the last year that London’s prime property market has struggled, and that can clearly be seen in these time on market figures.

“Over the last year, we have seen an exodus out of the capital. Increased homeworking has given homeowners looking for more space the flexibility to widen their search area and get more square footage for their budget.

"This, added to the loss of international visitors, has had a big impact on prime London residential property, and homeowners looking to sell are faced with a challenging market.

"At the other end of the spectrum, we can see the positive impact the stamp duty holiday has had on keeping the property market ticking over.

'Increased homeworking has given homeowners looking for more space the flexibility to widen their search area...'

"Typical time on market for the whole of England and Wales is currently 113 days – just two days more than in March 2020, which is impressive considering what the economy and the property market have been through over the last 12 months.

"This time last year we were expecting Covid-19 to have a devastating impact on the UK property market, but thankfully that doesn’t seem to have materialised.

"I am hopeful that the government’s new range of 95% mortgages will continue to bolster the market beyond the end of the extended stamp duty holiday, and we continue to see a strong, healthy property market in the coming months.”

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