Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number and proportion of residential property transactions that do not complete the legal purchase process in the latest period for which figures are available.

The Government does not collect data on the number of housing transactions which fall through. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the fall through rate is around 25 per cent, which is why the Government is working with industry to trial reservation agreements which will increase commitment between buyers and sellers and should reduce the failure rate.