Take a punt on Cambridge: university city now has the fastest-selling properties in Britain

If you thought the property bubble was something that only existed in London, think again.

A new study from property website Rightmove has revealed that the place with the fastest-selling properties is... Cambridge.

The average time between a house in the city appearing on Rightmove - and being marked as sold on the website - is just 27 days, while back in London, it takes an average of 41 days to sell.

'We are finding buyers for many properties within two weeks or even a week in some cases,' says Andrew Bradshaw of Bradshaws Residential in Cambridge. 'Some buyers have already sold their houses and are renting until a suitable property becomes available in the city.'

The study looked at all properties that were changed to Sold Subject to Contract (SSTC) by agents from April to June 2014 - and measures the length of time since the properties were first listed for sale on Rightmove.

******

Other hotspots include (surprise, surprise) London boroughs Lewisham and Sutton, where it takes 29 days to sell, and Waltham Forest with 31 days. However, outside London, Warwick (33) and St Albans (34) also made the top 10 hotspots.

But you'll need more patience in Powys in Wales, which has the slowest selling properties, taking 113 days on average; followed by Gwynedd (112) and Sefton in Merseyside (106 days).

'The ripple effect from London has not reached Gwynedd,' says Melfyn Williams of Williams & Goodwin The Property People in Gwynedd. 'Unfortunately some people are sucked in to the hype and are setting asking prices too high.'

The average time it takes for a property to sell across Britain is now 65 days, according to Rightmove.

'This new data shows how different the pace of the housing market is at a local level,' says Miles Shipside, Rightmove Director and Housing Market Analyst.

'Our study looks at the average time from first listing to being confident enough in the buyer's ability to proceed to actually mark it up as sold subject to contract. So although some sellers might find a potential buyer in a few days, the averages reflect the time taken to carry out thorough checks to minimise the risk of the sale falling through.'

Love this? For more homes gossip visit our dedicated news pages