Why so many property sales fell through in 2024
Over 300,000 sales fell through in the UK during 2024!
Quick Move Now(https://www.quickmovenow.com/) has released new figures highlighting the scale of fall-throughs seen in the UK property market during 2024.
The most common reasons for failed sales included:
- The buyer pulling out or failing in an attempt to renegotiate a lower purchase price after a survey (27.3%).
- The buyer changing their mind and withdrawing from the sale (23.6%).
- Difficulty getting a mortgage (21.8%).
- Sellers accepting a higher offer were responsible for 14.5% of fall-throughs.
- Chain breaks saw 7.3% of transactions collapse.
- Sellers pulling out due to slow progress caused 5.5% of deals to fail.
Geoff Flewers from Jukes Estate Agents Harlow said: “2024 was a challenging year for the property market.
“Mortgage interest rates, although lower than they were at the start of the year, have not fallen as much as many people hoped they would. Around 33% of mortgage holders are still on sub-3% mortgage interest rates, so the full impact of higher interest rates is yet to hit a large number of homeowners. Those awaiting a significant jump in payments are understandably nervous.
“We’ve also seen inflation continue to fluctuate this year. It had come down but is now on the rise again. If inflation continues to rise, it’s going to make it harder for the Bank of England to justify further reductions in the base rate. However, at the moment, the Bank of England are still upbeat thet they will decrease the base rate 3 times in 2025.
How has Harlow faired?
Harlow had a slightly higher percentage of fall throughs than the 30% national figure. There was also a variant on why the sales fell through
1,100 properties sold in Harlow in 2024
325 of those sales fell through.
98 fell through because the buyer simply changed their mind.
77 fell through because the buyers failed to negotiate a lower sales price after survey results.
70 fell through because the buyer was unable to obtain a mortgage.
The remaining 80 fell through for a variety of reasons as explained above.