UK’s new Gazumping capital named

Sheffield has replaced Brighton to become the new gazumping capital of the UK, reveals new research.

Gazumping is the controversial practice where a higher bid is made on a property when another offer has already been accepted, thereby ruining the sale.

Nearly one in three buyers can expect to get gazumped in Sheffield, according to the study. 29% of purchases in Sheffield had their offer beaten, up 25% on the previous year, according to the research be eMoov.

The increases in gazumping could be attributed to the increasing popularity of Sheffield, where demand is up 35%. Prospective buyers are resorting to cut-throat tactics in order to beat the competition to get on the ladder.

A spokesperson for Discount Insurance said: “Buyers having to use tactics such as gazumping highlights the continuing issue of housing shortages in the UK. More and more people attempting to get on the ladder results in a great situation for sellers but a frustrating one for buyers.”

Other areas which have seen an increase in gazumping are Newcastle and Plymouth.
Brighton, which was the gazumping capital in 2014, has seen the practice drop off by 68%.

Although 17% of potential buyers still get gazumped in London, there has been a 46% decrease in comparison to 2014.

“In recent years, especially in London, sellers knew that they had a queue of buyers stood outside their door. Even open days became fiercely competitive, so even if you did lose out, you had a direct route to the seller in order to gazump the accepted buyer. The drop reflects the fact that the insanity of the London market has simmered a little,” said founder of eMoov, Russell Quirk.

Of the 25-34 age group, a fifth found themselves to have been gazumped as its revealed that young people are most likely to lose out to a richer buyer offering a higher price.
However, gazumping overall is in decline as over the last ten months only 1 in 8 house hunters were gazumped. Nearly a quarter of potential homeowners had been gazumped, but now that figure has almost halved to 13%.