Fall-throughs predicted to drop but costs may rise

Estate agents and sellers could be set to benefit from fewer fall-throughs this year but the costs of a collapsed sale are still rising, research suggests.

Market analysis from property purchasing specialist HBB Solutions found that 326,000 property sales collapsed in in 2021.

Its research claims this figure had been increasing throughout the pandemic, up from 272,768 fall-throughs in 2019. 

sale fall-throughs could cost the UK property market £787.7m in 2022, despite signs of an early decline in the actual volume of transactions affected. 

HBB Solutions analysed industry data and found that 71,613 transactions collapsed during the first quarter of 2022, down 17% annually.

Should this downward trend persist for the remainder of the year, the company forecasts that the total number of fall-throughs could drop by 12.2% in 2022, to a total of 286,000.
Despite this, the individual cost of a fall-through is expected to see a marginal increase in 2022, up from £2,700 to £2,750 due to lost legal and survey fees.

As a result, HBB Solutions estimates that the total cost of fall-throughs to UK homesellers in 2022 could still hit £788m. 

Chris Hodgkinson, managing director of HBB Solutions, said: “Fall-throughs have been a problem in this country for a long time. 

“Many people place blame at the door of the conveyancing process, saying it’s too long and complex thus providing far too many opportunities for things to go wrong or for people to change their minds. 

“While this might be partially true, we also need to acknowledge that fall-throughs are part and parcel of the homebuying industry and better protection is needed at a far earlier stage in the transaction process.  

“They’re a problem for property professionals and the general public alike, so while the forecast decline for 2022 will be welcomed across the board, homesellers will still incur huge costs as a result of sales collapsing this year.”