Fall through are costing UK estate agents £2.8m a day, a property service claims. 

GetAgent claims 24,122 residential property sales collapsed during May this yar.

Although that’s down 13% on the same month last year, the service nonetheless suggests those failed sales added up to £86.5m commission delayed or lost.

A GetAgent spokesperson says: “Every fall-through represents a considerable amount of work undertaken by an estate agent without any guarantee of payment at the end of the process.

“Agents invest significant time and resources into qualifying buyers, managing negotiations, progressing chains and helping transactions navigate the many hurdles that arise between offer and completion. 

“When a sale falls through, much of that work goes unrewarded despite the value provided throughout the process.

“The fact that fall-throughs are delaying or denying more than £2.8 million in commission income every day highlights just how important transaction certainty is, not only for buyers and sellers but for the professionals working hard to keep the market moving.

“It’s positive to see fall-throughs reducing year-on-year. Continuing this trend will improve confidence across the entire property sector.

“It would help consumers move with greater certainty while ensuring agents can spend more time focusing on delivering successful outcomes rather than revisiting transactions that should already have completed.”

The South East accounted for the largest financial hit, with 4,097 failed sales costing agents an estimated £19.4million during May. 

London ranked second, where higher average property values meant 2,453 failed transactions resulted in an estimated £16.3m.

The East of England followed with £11.7m, while the South West (£9.4m), North West (£7.9m), West Midlands (£6.2m) and East Midlands (£5.2m) all saw more than £5m of commission impacted by failed transactions.

Northern Ireland recorded the lowest financial impact, with failed sales costing agents an estimated £846,000 during the month.