Londoners at least three times more likely to be gazumped

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a new survey suggests the proportion of London buyers who have lost out on a purchase because of gazumping is three times the national average. 

The survey of 2,000 adults undertaken for the lender Market Financial Solutions discovered that 15 per cent those based in London claimed to have lost out  on a flat or house purchase to a rival buyer despite having an offer accepted.

That is three times the UK figure of five per cent.

Some three per cent of those across the UK and nine per cent of those in London claimed to have lost out on fees to intermediaries such as solicitors and surveyors because they were pipped to the post during a property purchase.

The survey found that an inability to access funds in time is one of the main reasons that property deals unravel at an advanced stage; nine per cent of Londoners said they had experienced this issue. 

The lender says the results of the survey suggest that the highly competitive nature of the property market is leading to a degree of reticence among some buyers; many reported that deals falling through at the last minute has discouraged them from trying to buy a different property. 

Londoners and millennials were twice as likely as the national average to hold this opinion as other groups questioned in the survey.