What Percentage of UK Property Deals Fall Through? The Weak Links in The Sales Chain
Everyone talks about house prices. Fewer people talk about the bit where you agree a price, tell your family, start packing boxes… and then the whole thing collapses.
So, what percentage of UK property deals fall through?
Research quoted for 2025 puts the fall-through rate at 23.8% (303,551 deals), up from 23.3% in 2024.
That is roughly one in four. Not exactly rare.
The chain is only as strong as the most stressed buyer
When deals fail, it is often because somebody in the chain hits a problem they cannot absorb.
A few common triggers sit behind the headline numbers:
- Affordability changes mid-process (mortgage offers, rate changes, job changes)
- Survey surprises (from genuinely serious defects to “this looks expensive, I’m out”)
- Slow conveyancing (long gaps create space for doubt and life events)
- People changing their mind (it happens, and it hurts everyone else)
In a sales snapshot report from earlier in the year, nearly half of buyers and sellers said they had experienced a transaction falling through at some point. The biggest single reason was blunt: 34% said someone simply changed their mind.
Late failures are becoming more common
A lot of people assume most fall-throughs happen early, when it is “just an offer”.
But Hamptons’ analysis shows a shift towards later-stage collapses. Over the past year, 19.3% of fall-throughs happened within the first 90 days, but 32.2% happened within a year of an offer being accepted.
That matters because late failures are the expensive ones. Legal fees, surveys, time off work, removals held on standby. And then you start again.
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Flats are a special case (and not in a fun way)
If you want a single “weakest link” category, flats are right up there.
Hamptons reports 40% of flat offers collapsing within a year, compared with 36% a decade ago.
There are a few reasons this part of the market is fragile: leasehold complexity, management packs, building safety requirements, and buyers being pickier when budgets are tight.
The slow grind of conveyancing
Time is petrol on the fire of doubt.
Landmark reports the average time from sale agreed to exchange for purchases in 2024 was 109 days.
That is long enough for almost anything to change, including the buyer’s confidence.
It is also long enough for chains to get messy. If one transaction is delayed, it pushes pressure onto every link. When someone finally breaks, everyone feels it.
What does this mean for landlords and investors?
For landlords, a failed sale can mean:
- a delayed exit (or delayed purchase) that throws off future investment plans
- bridging or temporary finance costs if timelines slip
- rental income voids if you are selling after tenants leave
- extra legal spend if you have to restart
This is not financial advice, but it is a practical point: treating fall-through risk as “normal” rather than “unlikely” usually leads to better decisions and fewer nasty surprises.
How to reduce the risk of a sale falling through
You cannot control the whole chain, but you can tighten your own link:
- Get mortgage decisions and paperwork lined up early (buyers)
- Front-load information where possible (sellers, especially on flats)
- Choose conveyancers on responsiveness and clarity
- Keep expectations realistic on timelines (109 days is a useful benchmark)
- Have a Plan B if your onward purchase depends on a single buyer behaving perfectly
Because, as the stats suggest, perfection is not the average experience.
