17% of properties received an offer within one hour of a viewing, with 7% of buyers making an offer on a house without even visiting it, according to data from the past five years analysed by MPowered Mortgages.
This trend is far starker in 2022 as 31% of properties now receive an offer in an hour compared to 7% in 2018. Properties receiving an offer in a day is up over the same period from 26% in 2018, to 48% in 2022. One in eight (12%) properties have received an offer without a viewing this year, up from 7% in 2018.
MPowered Mortgages has launched the inaugural House Pace Index to shed light on buying behaviour, which is motivated by market conditions, government intervention on the housing market plus consumer behaviour of wanting to ‘buy now’.
The study found 38% of properties that have been put on the market in the past five years received an offer within the same day of a viewing. Only 14% secured an offer after a second viewing.
This trend is most prevalent in London with more than a third (37%) of properties receiving an offer on the same day as a viewing. One in seven (14%) homes in the Capital secured an offer without the buyer seeing the property in question.
Furthermore, 18-34 year olds are most likely to adopt this approach to house buying with 11% admitting to making an offer before seeing a property, compared to just 5% of 35 – 54 year olds. The average age of a first time buyer is 34 in the UK, suggesting that being quick to act could be down to inexperience coupled with fewer mortgage deals on the market.
Buyers see an average of three properties before making a first offer and 40% of buyers view only two properties before deciding they have found the right home for them. Despite buyers being quick off the mark, making a speedy offer is not always rewarded. 50% of buyers have an offer fall through. The top reasons why an offer fails are that the seller received a higher offer (32%), problems appeared on the survey (25%) or there was a break in the chain (15%).
The study also found that 10% of offers fell through as the buyer couldn’t secure a mortgage. 51% of sellers also reported they insisted on any first time buyers having a mortgage in principle before accepting an offer.
Stuart Cheetham, CEO, MPowered Mortgages, said: “We are seeing lots of activity in the market as buyers race to lock in deals given the pace in which they are rising in the current climate and this data shows that offers are being made extremely quickly, despite a large proportion of these falling through. Our House Pace Index shines a light on changing consumer behaviour against a backdrop of rising mortgage rates and aims to prompt more consideration in the house buying process.
“The race to find a home can be a daunting prospect even more so now in an environment where mortgage rates are rising as part of the cost of living. Of the many hurdles a homebuyer faces, one element that can be largely controlled is the certainty of their mortgage and this will be even more important as rates continue to rise. MPowered Mortgages uses AI and intelligent data to provide mortgage decisions quickly and make the mortgage journey for homebuyers and re-mortgagers as pain free as possible.”
