However, the latest data from the UK’s leading residential property buyer also shows an unprecedented year on year rise in the percentage of sales falling through.
Quick Move Now’s fall through index for March stands at 27%, showing that over a quarter of sales fail to complete, a 63% increase compared with March 2013.
Donna Houguez, Market Analyst at Quick Move Now, commented:
“It isn’t surprising that as buyers are rushing to make purchases before prices increase further, a higher proportion of those sales are falling through.
“However, it’s interesting to see that the reason for sales falling through has shifted dramatically in the last quarter.
“Since the property market crash in 2007, although the fall through rate has changed, the main reason sales failed to complete has remained solid - the inability to secure mortgage finance. Now that has changed. The majority of sales falling through do so because of issues on the sellers’ side – they either receive a better offer or they experience problems within their own chain.
“This is a major step-change and shows us that we have moved definitively into a sellers’ market.”
