25% fall-through rate is major improvement, claims quick sale firm

Over a quarter of prospective house sales completed in the past three months had fallen through at some stage according to bulk purchase firm Quick Move Now.

It claims that 26 per cent of all house sales across England and Wales fell through before completion in Q2 - but that represents a significant decrease from the 35 per cent fall through rate seen in the three months from january to March inclusive.

The firm says the reasons behind the fall throughs are:

- 35 per cent chain collapse;

- 29 per cent buyer changing mind;

- 24 per cent buyer seeking to renegotiate offer price;

- six per cent had their lender refuse a loan;

- another six per cent of the fall throughs were thanks to the slow progress of the deal.

“For the first time since the start of 2016, we are starting to see an improvement to the fall through rate as more people commit to the completion of their home purchase. However, even though we have seen a decrease in fall throughs, the reasons behind the Q2 results highlights that uncertainty is still rife with the top three reasons citing a buyer’s decision rather than structural or financial” says Danny Luke, Quick Move Now managing director.

“With Brexit talks just beginning, I would expect this level of uncertainty and instability within the UK property market to remain” he cautions.