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.
Home buyers left to complete deals before stamp duty holiday ends as millions face bigger tax bills dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Buy-to-let mortgages flood back to market with over 200 launched in March alone - but landlords are being charged highest rates since 2019
There are now 2,333 buy-to-let mortgage deals on the market, according to Moneyfacts - the highest number since before the pandemic
However, average two-year fixed rates are 0.28% higher than this time last year
Will rates go down as competition increases? We asked the experts