Estate agencies saw 82,000 potential sales fall-through between July and September this year taking the annual total of abandoned purchases to 312,700, according to the latest TwentyEA/Ci Property & Homemover Report.

The data also shows the average time to exchange now stands at 123 days. Katy Billany (main picture), Executive Director of TwentyEA, says waiting four months just to exchange contracts is “far too long”.

Upfront info will be big help

“No wonder buyers get cold feet, or unexpected issues crop up in surveys. A bit more upfront info at the start could really help smooth things out.”

And Chris Williams, founder of Novus Strategy, the technology consultancy for the home buying and selling industry, points out that abandoned purchases are responsible for billions of pounds being wasted every year.

He says: “Behind every cancellation will be a family that can’t move into a larger home, a couple unable to move in together or a pensioner struggling to downsize.

“Industry suffers too, from housebuilders and estate agents to mortgage brokers and lenders all shouldering the cost of wasted effort and investment.”

Williams adds that if the market can reduce completion times and make the process more transparent, fall-through numbers should fall sharply, as industry pilots have already demonstrated.

The Government’s recently announced reforms include mandatory upfront information packs and digital property logbooks. Consultations on the changes opened this month.

We’re already starting to see some of the green shoots of collaboration in industry that will deliver the transformation required.”

Williams says of them: “The industry has been calling on the Government to mandate some of the improvements we need to see, and the far-reaching consultation revealed earlier this month was very welcome as it will inject some much-needed momentum.

“We’re already starting to see some of the green shoots of collaboration in industry that will deliver the transformation required, driven by organisations such as the Open Property Data Association.

“All the different players involved in transactions are investing now in getting this right, and the rewards will be extreme. It’s easily possible that transaction levels will reach a new, permanently higher plateau that everybody will benefit from.”