There were fresh demands for action to stop gazumping last night after more than a third of house sales were hijacked by a higher bidder in the last year.
Two in five buyers admitted securing a home by putting in a better bid after a sale to someone else was agreed but before contracts were exchanged.
The practice, which is not illegal, was the leading cause of property deals not going ahead in the last 12 months, says comparison site Comparethemarket.com.
It comes amid a buying frenzy which began as the market reopened in May last year and was boosted by Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday.