Real estate sale: how quickly can you expect to sell your home in big cities?

Due to a lack of sufficient demand, property sales times are increasing in the majority of large French cities. Here are the municipalities where it is the most difficult to sell real estate at the start of 2025.

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With the drop in credit rates underway since the start of 2024, the real estate market is gradually regaining color. But the situation remains difficult for owners, who still have great difficulty selling their properties due to lack of sufficient demand. As proof, only 800,000 real estate transactions were carried out in 2024, or 100,000 fewer than the previous year, according to SeLoger/MeilleursAgents. This drop in demand is logically felt in sales times, which have increased over the last twelve months in the majority of large cities. “On average, sales times remain very long and vary between 75 and 80 days in large cities, analyzes Thomas Lefebvre, vice-president of SeLoger /MeilleursAgents in charge of data. The worst is behind us but the real estate market has not yet completely restarted.”

As a reminder, the sales period corresponds to the number of days elapsed between the listing of a property and the signing of the compromise by the buyer. In certain large French cities, the average sales time has exploded over the last twelve months. This is particularly the case in Amiens, where the average sales time in January 2025 was 93 days, an increase of 29 days compared to January 2024.

In Aix-en-Provence, where real estate prices are much higher (5,205 euros per square meter for an apartment) than in Amiens (2,682 euros per square meter), owners need 80 days in average time to find a buyer, compared to only 68 days a year ago. In Paris, where average prices have fallen significantly in recent months to approach the 9,000 euros per square meter mark, sales times have also increased slightly (+3 days). Conversely, sales times have shortened in Pau (-10 days) and Tours (-9 days), a sign that these cities have been able to attract buyers in 2024.

A reduction in sales times in spring?

Owners can nevertheless be reassured that sales deadlines could finally be reduced in the coming months. “The situation should improve from spring 2025 as more and more buyers return to the market with the drop in mortgage rates», rejoices Thomas Lefebvre. A sign that the real estate market is recovering, the number of real estate purchase projects has increased by +10% compared to last year, according to SeLoger/MeilleursAgents.