Mortgage problems are blocking one in three house sales in the UK and more than one in five have had a house sale or purchase fall through, new research has found.
House sellers are twice as likely to see transactions fail than house buyers and overall over the past five years 34% of sales have not gone through due to finance problems, according to the study from the Nottingham Building Society.
However, lack of finance was not the only block for would be sellers as around 32% said that their plans were scuppered because buyers changed their mind at the last minute.
The research shows it is buyers who are more likely to have mortgage issues than sellers. Its study found 22% have had sales or purchases fall through in the past five years because of mortgage issues but 15% have been buyers compared with just 7% of sellers.
The Nottingham, which offers building society and estate agency services under one roof, believes the research highlights the need to line up finance before going house hunting.
‘It is worrying that the successful outcome of many housing transactions relies so heavily on people getting the right mortgage for them very early on,’ said Su Snaith, head of estate agency at The Nottingham.
‘Selling or buying a house does not have to be stressful but with hundreds of thousands of transactions failing every year it is clear that people need expert support and advice throughout the process. There is a limit to what you can do to stop people changing their minds but finance should not be an issue,’ she explained.
She pointed out that mortgage rates have never been lower and there are a wide range of competitive deals available but arranging finance can take time which should mean securing a deal in principle before starting on the process and sourcing expert advice on all aspects of the deal.
The research also shows one in six sellers who have had deals fall through have suffered more than one sale fail while 11% of buyers have had more than one purchase fail. Problems with chains were an issue for 25% of sellers who had seen deals fall through while issues with surveys affected 17%.
