More house sales fall through due to mortgage problems

September 20, 2016 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

According to a study by Nottingham Building Society, over a third of property sales fall through due to problems obtaining a mortgage.

Research discovered that 34% of people who have attempted to sell or buy a house within the last five years have not succeeded due to mortgage issues. Finance is the main reason for property transactions falling through, while 32% fail due to people changing their mind about the deal.

The study also revealed that house buyers were more likely to experience problems with a mortgage than those who are selling a property. However, sellers are more likely to experience a failed transaction than those buying a property.

Data produced by HMRC revealed that there were 104,200 transactions completed in July this year in the residential property market, following a slump in sales in April when just 73,430 deals were completed. This was believed to be due to the new Stamp Duty rules for Buy-To-Let, which had been introduced.

During the year ending 5th April 2016, there were 1.328 million property deals completed, in comparison to deals in the previous year amounting to 1.2 million.

The head of estate agents at the Nottingham Building Society, Su Snaith, stated that although there was a limit to the action which could be taken to prevent people changing their minds about a property deal, a failed transaction should not be due to finance issues. She added that a successful property transaction relied on people securing the most suitable mortgage for them early in the process.

Seeking advice from a CeMAP qualified mortgage adviser can prevent many of the problems.