The number of collapsed property transactions in Britain has risen to its highest level since 2021, highlighting persistent inefficiencies in the homebuying process and prompting calls for greater transparency across the chain.
Figures from ViewMyChain, a chain management platform, show that 214,052 sales fell through in the first eight months of 2025.
That compares with 192,538 in the same period last year, 180,429 in 2023, 202,372 in 2022 and 220,644 in 2021.
This year’s fall-through rate stands at 24.3% of agreed sales, the second-highest level in five years after 2023, when the market was hit by the fallout from Liz Truss’s mini-Budget.
EXTENDED PIPELINES
Delays remain a central driver of failed transactions. The average time from agent instruction to completion is now 216 days, while sales agreed (subject to contract) take a further 139 days to complete.
Extended pipelines heighten the risk of buyers or sellers pulling out, particularly in a volatile interest rate environment where mortgage offers may expire.
Industry specialists warn that a lack of visibility across chains continues to be a key obstacle.
Transactions often rely on fragmented systems, with data siloed across estate agents, lenders, conveyancers and surveyors. Without interoperable feeds and real-time updates, information gaps can slow progress and create uncertainty, ultimately increasing the risk of collapse.
LIVE CHAIN INTELLIGENCE
Advocates argue that embedding live chain intelligence directly into case management and customer relationship management systems would allow stakeholders to identify risks earlier and manage timelines more effectively.
Proponents of such integration say a national, standardised approach to sharing transaction data could shorten completion times and cut the number of fall-throughs significantly.
The latest figures highlight how structural inefficiencies in the property market continue to weigh on consumers, brokers and lenders alike.
For mortgage providers, delays tie up capital and complicate funding plans, while estate agents and brokers see profitability squeezed when sales collapse.
HIGHER COSTS
For buyers and sellers, prolonged uncertainty often results in higher costs, especially where mortgage rates rise during the process.
Efforts are under way to address the issue. Technology platforms and the Land Registry have been developing digital tools aimed at reducing errors and introducing greater interoperability.
However, the rise in fall-throughs this year suggests momentum remains slow and that structural reform is still needed to deliver meaningful improvements to transaction certainty.
NOT UNSOLVABLE
Paul Halliwell, Executive Director at View My Chain, says: “Conveyancers and agents often blame missing searches, mortgage delays and slow replies for stalled transactions, but these are only symptoms.
“The root cause is that the chain itself is hidden. Professionals waste hours chasing updates on cases that cannot progress resulting in four million working days lost every year and £400m wasted in fall-through costs.
“Policy, standards, and momentum have now aligned for impactful change to the transaction process. Invisible chains are no longer an unsolvable problem because the technology and integrations already exist to support transparency.
“In our pilot with a 1,000 branch national agency, chain visibility cut the time to exchange by an average of 17 days, achieved on a relatively light integration with their CRM – proof that even modest steps can unlock significant gains.”
BIG OPPORTUNITY
And he adds: “Forward-thinking practices must start pushing their CRM providers for chain visibility features, participating in pilot programmes, or demanding integration capabilities that support transparency.
“The opportunity is significant. Cutting completion times will save thousands of wasted professional hours, reduce fall-throughs, and restore consumer confidence.
“Chain visibility will become standard in CRMs and CMSs but first it will take coordinated action from platforms, firms, and industry stakeholders to embed it fully, ensure real-time data accuracy, and scale it across the entire market.”
