Homebuyers out of pocket before they even complete

Homebuyers see the value of their property plummet between making an offer and completing on their sale

Homebuyers completing on a property purchase in some areas of the UK market today will have already seen the value of their property fall by as much as £195,000 before they’ve even been handed the keys.

That’s according to the latest research by digital upfront property pack provider, Moverly, who looked at how house prices have changed over a four month period, the time in which it takes to move a transaction to completion after accepting an offer.

Figures from Moverly show that the protracted property process in the UK means that the time it takes between having an offer accepted and legally owning a house currently sits at 150 days.

Moverly then looked at what this means in terms of the change in property values seen across the UK market over the last 150 days or four months.

The good news is that while the rate of house price growth may have started to cool, the average UK house price has still climbed by £5,323 to £294,329 over the last four months. This means that those completing in the current market will have seen an increase in the value of their home to the tune of £35 per day, having originally agreed on an offer of £289,006 150 days previously.

Regionally it’s buyers in the East Midlands who have snagged the biggest bargain, with the average value of a home climbing by £10,750 between the point of agreeing on a price and legally owning the property.

In fact, homebuyers are out of pocket in just two UK areas, with house prices falling by £4,756 in Scotland and £904 in Northern Ireland over the course of 150 days.

At local authority level, it’s the City of London where homebuyers completing in today’s market will have enjoyed the biggest boost to their property’s value compared to the offer they originally agreed (+£158,371). Tower Hamlets (+£44,158) and Cambridge (+£41,091) also rank within the top three in this respect.

However, in no less than 36 areas across the UK market, buyers are finding that they are already out of pocket on their purchase by the time they complete, with house prices falling since they originally agreed an offer.

In some areas this decline is substantial, to say the least, and nowhere more so than in Kensington and Chelsea, where a buyer completing today will have already seen the value of their home fall by an eye watering £194,806 – that’s a drop of £1,299 for every day it took for them to complete.

Hammersmith and Fulham (-£63,815), Westminster (-£45,890) and Islington (-£27,646) have also seen some of the largest drops in house price during the time it takes to complete a sale, along with South Lakeland (-£21,644), Stratford-on-Avon (-£10,499) and Guildford (-£10,391).

Camden (-£9,700), North Norfolk (-£9,644) and Aberdeen (-£8,595) complete the top 10.

Moverly co-founder Ed Molyneux, commented:

“Anyone who has had the pleasure of moving home in the UK will know that regardless of how quickly you agree an offer, the time taken between this point and actually completing on a sale can drag on for what seems like forever.

So much so that when a sale does finally complete, the value of the home in question has often shifted by thousands of pounds.

All too often this delay is down to the inadequate supply of upfront property information which not only slows the offer negotiation process, but it can also considerably increase the chance of a transaction falling through.”