LATEST: Property sales fall-throughs still rising

Property sales fall-throughs cost UK buyers and sellers £270 million during the third quarter of 2023 as difficult market conditions continued, latest research from Home Sale Pack reveals.

This is the second consecutive quarterly increase as the housing market struggles with higher mortgage rates and falling transactions increasing by 13.3% in Q3 last year, having already increased by 9.3% between Q1 and Q2.

AVERAGE COST

And Home Sale Pack estimates that the average cost of a fall through in Q3 climbed to £3,433 – an increase of £51 on the previous quarter and £84 versus the start of the year.

But while the frequency of fall throughs and the resulting cost incurred is on the up, they remain below the levels seen the previous year, with -12.8% fewer seen during Q3 of 2023 versus the same period in 2022 while the total cost to the market was also down -9.8% on an annual basis.

Between Q1 and Q3 of 2022, the total estimated cost of fall throughs had hit almost £775.8m. During the same period of 2023, this total cost is estimated to have hit just £717.1m – a difference of £58.7m

CHALLENGING YEAR

Ruth Beeton (main picture), Co-Founder of Home Sale Pack, says: “2023 proved to be a challenging year for the property market and fall throughs remained a prominent obstacle for many homebuyers and sellers to overcome.

“The good news is that slower market conditions and fewer transactions tend to yield fewer fall throughs and so both the number and resulting cost incurred in 2023 have, so far, remained somewhat lower when compared to the previous year.”

She adds: “Despite this, fall throughs have been increasing consistently throughout 2023 and with the market starting to show signs of a resurgence towards the end of the year, we expect this trend to have continued in Q4.”