The number of property sales falling through has risen again, with 82,060 transactions collapsing in Q3 2025, according to the latest Property & Homemover Report from TwentyEA and Ci.
The data shows a 0.5% year-on-year increase in fall-throughs, underscoring ongoing challenges in the homebuying process — from delayed chains to financing issues and shifting buyer sentiment.
Katy Billany, executive director of TwentyEA, commented: “With 82,000 sales falling through in Q3 alone, we’re fully behind the government’s push to shake up the homebuying process. Waiting four months just to exchange contracts is far too long, no wonder buyers get cold feet, or unexpected issues crop up in surveys.
“A bit more upfront info at the start could really help smooth things out. As we head into the final stretch of the year, we’re cautiously optimistic.”
The figures were released just days after the government unveiled plans to reform the homebuying system, aiming to streamline transactions and reduce the number of failed deals.
Chris Williams, founder of Novus Strategy, the technology consultancy for the home buying and selling industry, said: “The big takeaway from this data, coming just days after the government announced major homebuying reforms, has to be the sheer scale of the damage being inflicted on the property industry by fall-throughs.
“There have been 312,691 cancelled purchases in the last year according to TwentyEA/Ci, which is an absolutely eye-watering figure. Fall-throughs often occur due to the length of time it takes to complete a purchase, with changing circumstances, life events and long chains all exacerbating the problem. If we can reduce completion times and make the process more transparent, these numbers should fall sharply, as industry pilots have already demonstrated.
“Abandoned purchases are responsible for billions of pounds wasted each year and the human cost of this disruption is also extensive. Behind every cancellation will be a family that can’t move into a larger home, a couple unable to move in together or a pensioner struggling to downsize. Industry suffers too, from housebuilders and estate agents to mortgage brokers and lenders all shouldering the cost of wasted effort and investment.”
Willaims highlights that the industry has been calling on the government to mandate some of the improvements needed, and believes the far-reaching consultation revealed earlier this month was very welcome as it will inject some much-needed momentum.
He added: “We’re already starting to see some of the green shoots of collaboration in industry that will deliver the transformation required, driven by organisations such as the Open Property Data Association (OPDA).
“All the different players involved in transactions are investing now in getting this right and the rewards will be extreme. It’s easily possible that transaction levels will reach a new, permanently higher plateau that everybody will benefit from.”
Working at the sharp end, it is nothing to do with data up front. It is ALL to do with poor conveyancing. We have sales that have been going for nearly a year. The conveyancer didn’t even ask for the pack from the management company until 5 months in! The majority are only looking at the files once a month. Funny how they got the majority of sales through when we were hit with the deadline earlier this year, a lot then only took 2 to 3 months. It all started when the blame game hit us in 2007. Over the following years nearly all the decent solicitors in my area got out of the game, IP premiums for them went through the roof. The whole conveyancing system needs an over hall and the conveyancing process over seen by the Land Registry; once, they get the search departments on line. Once again we are let down by Government and local authorities who continue to increase their salaries and reduce their working weeks – SORRY, rant over. 49 years in this industry and it has been in decline since the 90’s
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There is always an abundance of blame on the solicitors but I get more spanners in the works from survey reports. Most of the time there are no issues or nothing you would expect from a property that cant be visually seen. Frequently I have buyers coming back saying there a load of problems and then been advised / told by the surveyors not to share it so we can see what the issues are. The reports are coupled with wild costings that buyers then expect to have taken off. I cant remember the last time I saw a report that was realistic and objective. They are full of endless recommendations to get electricians, plumbers, heating people, wood reports, roofers, damp people and at the slightest sign of crack to get a structural report in. All of these houses eventually sell and the possible issues raised turn out to be non points. Most of our houses have people living in and who have been there for some time with no issues. Suddenly their house is riddled with huge issues.
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When I meandered into estate agency in the mid 1980’s, I was introduced to the “rule of thirds”. Broadly translated, this meant that a third of the sales arranged would not legally complete. The reasons were always varied, with blame passed around the various constituent parts of the housing transaction. That hasn’t really changed. If you look at TwentyEA’s data for 2024, with 312,691 cancelled purchases and the number of completions for the same year being (depending on source data) at around 1.1m, it shows a fall-through rate of 29%. Or as near as damn it, the “rule of thirds”! Accept the numbers. Accept that through mistakes, incompetence, beligernace and changes in wind direction, sales fall through. And then factor that into any business plan, marketing activities and sales processes.
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