There are an average of 225,000 fall-throughs in the UK residential property market each year, meaning one in four sales, research from property platform WiggyWam has found.
Prospective home sales being aborted before completion can be caused a number of different factors including: mortgage problems, problems revealed in survey, gazumping, conveyancing delays, and broken chains – if the success of a deal is dependent on another sale.
There are fears a number of transactions could fall through this year due to the expiring stamp duty holiday on 31st March. If it ends as planned people could miss out on the reduction, which would add thousands of pounds to their tax bill if they go through with the transaction.
WiggyWam chief executive, Silas J. Lees MRICS, said: “Agents don’t get paid until a sale completes, so these fall-through statistics hide within them a vast unseen cost for agents. Aborted sales can be disastrous to the agent pipeline and in meeting monthly overheads.
“For buyers and sellers, the risk of a transaction falling through, together with the associated abortive costs, is a major obstacle which stops many from moving in the first place. For agents, it is probably their biggest frustration, especially when the deal is so close to exchanging contracts.”