Gazumping - so is it declining or is it getting worse?

The latest research from online estate agency Emoov shows at least one silver lining to the current Brexit-hit housing market - the number of people who have been gazumped on a property sale has fallen over the last year.

However, this evidence appears to clash with the results on a survey produced last week by PropTech firm Gazeal and Port Office Money, which suggested that gazumping was soaring.

Emoov asked 1,006 people who had bought a property in the last year, whether they had been gazumped during the sale. 

The results show that UK wide, 2018 has enjoyed an 11 per cent drop in gazumping, which occurred in 25 per cent of the respondents’ sales - this compared to 36 per cent a year ago. 

In the Emoov assessment, London retains the crown as the gazumping capital with 66 per cent of buyers having experienced gazumping - a remarkable increase of 31 per cent in the past 12 months alone.

Areas seeing below average levels of gazumping were the North East (22 per cent) and the Midlands and the North West (both on 21 per cent).

The results also found that first-time buyers are most likely to be gazumped with 58 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds answering yes, as well as 41 per cent of 35 to 44-year-olds being gazumped during a property purchase.

“While we are still seeing a steady number of sales each month despite stock levels also remaining low, there isn’t the overwhelming buyer appetite that we’ve seen in previous years. As a result, this reduction in competition is seeing fewer homeowners receive and opt for a last-minute higher offer, at the expense of their existing buyer” according to Russell Quirk, founder and chief executive of Emoov.

“That said, the art of gazumping is still very prevalent across the capital where demand remains strong in numerous locations, despite the wider top-line figures showing an overall slowdown” he adds.

Last week, Gazeal and Post Office Money painted a different picture in a survey undertaken for them by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. 

Based on data from 35 key cities across the UK, CEBR said it takes on average 102 days to sell a property - a year ago, it was only 96 days. 

Once homeowners receive an offer, 35 per cent see their sale fall through within the first three weeks and 44 per cent fall through within four weeks.

Of all property transactions that get beyond this stage some 16 per cent experience gazumping - although this figure was below Emoov’s level, CEBR suggested this was worse than before whereas Emoov says it represents an improvement on 2017.