Despite mortgage rates falling to record lows, the ease of getting one has not improved – an issue which may mean transaction levels are being held back.
Of those who have tried to buy or sell a property in the past five years, 22% stated their deal failed due to mortgage issues, according to Nottingham Building Society research.
That said, around a third (32%) of fall-throughs were said to be due to buyers changing their minds, with 25% claiming problems with the chain stopped them from securing the transaction.
15% of the failed deals mentioned buyers failing to get a loan, whilst sellers being unable to obtain a mortgage made up 7%. Inability to get a loan agreed in time was also an issue in relation to mortgages.
Conveyancing related problems were included later in the list, whilst the figure of those stating a survey had affected their purchase was 17%.
Commenting on the dependence of housing transaction completion upon precise mortgage attainment was Su Snaith, Head of Estate Agency at Nottingham Building Society: “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.
“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.”
