The Conveyancing Association says the number of completions that fall through due to collapsing chains, valuations not accepted by mortgage companies or one party simply pulling the plug on a deal is now approaching 200,000 annually.
Last week an estimated 2,0000 deals were affected by the collapse of CHAPS, the rapid electronic money-transfer system run under the Bank of England's Real Time Gross Settlement System, which developed a fault.
It is not thought that any of the deals collapsed although they did have to wait until Tuesday of last week to complete transactions originally scheduled for the Monday.
However the glitch triggered the survey by the Conveyancing Association, conducted for the Sunday Times.
The survey results show fall throughs are particularly common in London, where around one third of all transactions are affected.
Around 20 per cent of deals collapse in south east England but in the Midlands and north of England the fall through rate is only around five per cent.
The Conveyancing Association says there is an obvious link between price and vulnerability of a transaction to collapse, as more expensive homes typically have more elements of the chain open to breaking.
The relatively small number of repossessed properties that are purchased are a particular bone of contention - some 40 per cent of purchases involving repos fall through, the survey shows.
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Comments
What number is 2,0000
So we have around 700,000 properties sold per year and 200,000 fall through.
This is a rather shocking statistic! It comes as no surprise that there is a considerable North-South divide as property prices are clearly at the root of the collapse. This will surely only increase further as house prices continue to rise in both the South-East and London.
Over the last 40 years the average has been 1 in 3 sales, which have been properly put together and not wishful thinking, have collapsed come rain or shine for one reason or another.