A 20-page fall-through report from home moving platform, GOTO, has revealed how other countries achieve consistently higher completion rates than the UK.
In 2024, one in three (29.8%) property transactions failed, representing a sharp rise from 16% in 2022. With the average time to complete now standing at five months, which has increased 38% over the last decade, this makes the UK one of the most unreliable property markets.
The report, which analysed data, insights and research from multiple sources, found that other countries such as Australia, North America and Sweden are completing property transactions in fewer than 45 days.
Even in countries where completion timeframes are up to six months, none of them experience the high fall-through rates seen in the UK.
Financial impact of fall-throughs
The analysis also found that fall-throughs represent a significant financial loss for all parties involved, as well as for the wider economy, amounting to almost £8.6 billion in 2024.
The average cost of a failed sale to the buyer was approximately £2,727 in 2021, and if that number is extrapolated over the next few years without considering inflationary increases, a modest estimate suggests that approximately £3.05 billion was lost between 2021 and 2024.
In addition, the average cost to an agency was £4,123 per fall-through, with agents also stating they wasted at least seven days of time per failed transaction.
Root causes and contributing factors
The report suggests there are four root causes for the high fall-through rate in the UK: no upfront funding, no upfront property information, no upfront contractual commitment, and a conveyancing bottleneck.
27.3% of failed transactions were due to buyers walking away after a bad survey result.”
In 2024, 22% of sales that fell through were due to difficulties in securing a mortgage, while 27.3% of failed transactions were due to buyers walking away after a bad survey result.
The report also features findings from The State of the UK Conveyancing Market 2024,27 which showed that the number of firms operating in the conveyancing market in 2023 fell by 9% compared to the previous year, with every region in the UK seeing at least a 7% decline from 2022.
Of course, one of the biggest differences in the UK property market compared to other countries is the lack of any form of contractual obligation when an Offer to Purchase is accepted, so both sellers and buyers are free to withdraw from the transaction at any time, without penalty.
Nigel Hoath (main image), CEO of GOTO Group, commented: “We don’t just have a problem with delays – we have a problem with commitment. Other countries have structured their processes to create certainty at an earlier stage, and as long as the UK continues without buyer and seller commitments, the fall-through rate will remain unacceptably high. Our report explores the solutions that are already working across global markets and how they could be applied here.”