Gazumping is alive and well in much of the country, despite the slowdown in the property market, according to new research by Phil Spencer’s consumer service MoveIQ.
An analysis of over a million property transactions undertaken by the site with PropTech firm Gazeal shows that the worst area for gazumping is Sheffield.
Some 35 per cent of would-be buyers in the South Yorkshire city are gazumped, more than double the 16 per cent average for England and Wales.
Even areas where prices are falling are now seeing high levels of gazumping, the research claims.
The second worst hotspot is Maidstone in Kent, where nearly 32 per cent of buyers were gazumped – despite the fact that average prices fell by one per cent in the year to January.
“For anyone who thought gazumping vanished with the runaway price rises of a few years ago, our findings will come as a reality check. Gazumping is alive and well, and still causing heartache for tens of thousands of buyers across England and Wales” claims Spencer.
“Britain’s fragmented property market is throwing up huge regional extremes. In hotspots where prices are still rising fast, sellers can be tempted to go back on their word to a buyer if they get a better offer elsewhere. Meanwhile, in slow markets, the lack of homes for sale can lead sellers to leave would-be buyers in the lurch if they get a last minute offer from someone else.
“But whatever the market conditions, the real culprit is the legal blind spot in the way homes are bought and sold in England and Wales. A legal system that lets sellers leave buyers high and dry weeks, or even months, after accepting their offer is clearly not fit for purpose.”
Last week Spencer come out in favour of legally binding reservation agreements and digital legal packs in a bid to reduce fall-throughs and gazumping.
At the time he said that whatever the market conditions, the real danger to many buyers and sellers in the current transaction system was the fact that buyers or sellers could abandon a sale a day before the exchange.
Online agent turned property PR guru Russell Quirk has set out...
Property guru and TV presenter Phil Spencer has paid tribute to...
Agents are being trained in how to operate in a ‘normal’...
Propertymark’s partnership with MoveIQ has already attracted attention from more than...
The predictions game can be tricky. Sometimes you just don’t know...
Leading UK property auctioneer Bond Wolfe has broken through the £100...
Uncertainty triggered by the new Labour Government and taxation concerns that...
In today's rapidly evolving property market, the focus on reducing transaction...
.png)
An exciting new collaboration between TVPN, EstateApps and Paul Long is...
By Mike Bilboe, Face For Business Buying or selling a home can...
LSL Estate Agency Franchising is home to one of the UK’s...
.jpg){kind=logo}
B-hive Block Management Partners Celebrates Major Milestone With Over 100 Businesses...
.jpg)
Tell us a little bit about National Home Move. We are a...
If you’re thinking about becoming an Estate Agency franchise or converting...
Estate agents and lettings agents have a legal obligation to protect...
You don’t have to simply accept things as they are when...
From the uptick in house sales in January to a house price...
Happy birthday to us….and all members of the The ValPal Network! We...
With a combined value surpassing £7.4 trillion, the UK’s 29 million...
%20-%20IMAGE%20Client%20Accounting%20%E2%80%93%20what%20are%20your%20options.jpg)
The benefits for letting agents to outsource their client accounting is...
When almost all agents and developers use the tried and tested formula...
I think we can all agree that the National Trading Standards...
.png)
As domestic battery storage systems become increasingly prevalent in UK homes,...
.png)
A team from The ValPal Network joined industry Facebook ads expert...
.png)
In this interview, Riccardo Dawson, Chief Operating Officer at Alto and...
%20(002).png)
In today's fast-paced and ever-evolving property industry, it’s essential that forward-thinking...
A client account is essential to your lettings business, but the...
As electric vehicles increasingly populate our roads and the necessity for...
As estate agents, it is important to make sure that your...
Estate agency has changed. No longer is it required to sit in...
Changes to consumer behaviour usually arrive in waves. Most of the...
At iamproperty we are excited to share the announcement of our...
It’s no secret – 2023 is a difficult year for the...
In an exclusive interview with Estate Agent Today, Simon Coaker, Sales &...
2023 has been coined as ‘the year of AI adoption’, and...
%20(002).jpg)
There are a few common questions that arise when the issue...
As a signage company we know we have a serious responsibility...
The Government’s mini budget on September 23 was anything but ‘mini’...
Agent websites have become more crucial than ever in attracting new...
.png)
Who are you and what does it say on...
Who are you and what does it say on...
Who are you and what does it say on...
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
That seems unfeasibly high to me... I am seeing little or no evidence in my local area....if Phil Spencer wants to lead a campaign to help kerb gazumping he may be better turning his focus on the abysmal service and delays propagated by the conveyancing industry. Until the legal profession lose their arrogant stand on being paid regardless of transactional success the delays caused by them allow buyers and seller far too much time to get up to mischief...maybe they could explain why an average transaction in West Sussex is taking 10 weeks? I suspect as always the conveyancing profession will blame anybody but themselves, probably from the sanctuary if the golf course!
Andrew, take a look at Gazeal.co.uk we are trying to help speed up this process.
Put non refundable deposits in place.
Only refundable if survey turns up something detrimental to property as described.
5% or 10% should be acceptable to any serious purchaser.
Steve, this is exactly what we are doing at Gazeal.co.uk
Please login to comment