28% of chains break due to house being taken off the market!

There is often nothing that can be done, but what is the main reason for a sale falling through?

According to research from Which? Mortgage Advisors, the primary reason for sales falling through is that the seller decides not to sell their home after all, and removes their property from the market!

The survey, which questioned 2,000 home buyers who had bought their home in the last two years discovered that the top reasons for a sale falling through were:

• The seller decided not to sell their home after all (28%)
• The buyer pulled out, as their own property sale had fallen through (21%)
• The buyer found somewhere else to buy (21%)
• The buyer was gazumped (21%)

As well as being upsetting and frustrating, this can be a costly issue. If a chain collapses after an offer is accepted, the research has shown that it can leave buyers up to £3,000 out of pocket, once they have paid conveyancing, survey, mortgage valuation or broker fees.

With property prices rising, and the cost of buying creeping up, these sort of hiccups are problems that few can afford on the road to home ownership. With this in mind, the Government has pledges that it will consult on how the home buying and selling process could become more efficient, by preventing fall-throughs and gazumping by making deals binding on the acceptance of an offer.