More than half of residential property sales fell through in the first quarter of 2023, according to new figures.

Data from Quick Move Now suggests that 56% of property sales fell through in the first three months of the year, as the market dealt with the fallout from last year’s economic uncertainty and steeply rising interest rates.

Danny Luke, Quick Move Now’s managing director, says: “The end of 2022 sent the property market into chaos. Steeply rising inflation and interest rates had a big impact on buyer affordability. Many buyers found themselves with a significantly smaller budget, as lower interest rate mortgage products were removed from the market.

“The first three months of the year had a fall through rate of 56%, but much of that was weighted towards the new year. We saw a vast number of property sales fall through at the start of January as would-be buyers reassessed their plans over the Christmas period.

“This caution is reflected in the reasons given for failed property sales. 29% of fall throughs were attributed to the buyer changing their mind and withdrawing from the sale. This was closely followed by buyers withdrawing due to something found during the legal process or at property survey, which accounted for 25% of the failed sales. Other reasons given for unsuccessful sales during the first quarter of the year include chain-break, difficulty securing a mortgage and slow sale progress.”

As for the future, Danny seems confident that we are returning to more typical market conditions.

“We usually expect to see around a third of property sales fall through before completion. Annual averages over the last 5 years have widely supported that statistic, although we have seen significant variations on a quarterly basis. From the market we’re currently seeing, I’m expecting fall through figures for the second quarter of 2023 to be far closer to more typical values. The market is operating on lower volumes and at lower prices than we saw in 2022, but there are still committed buyers and sellers. Those who are persevering despite the caution and uncertainty are serious about moving, so we can expect to see a greater number of sales successfully reaching completion.”