'Gazundering' adds to property woes

The practice of 'gazundering' is worsening an already perilous UK property market, new research has suggested.

Gazundering is where a buyer lowers his offer on a property having already agreed on a higher price but before any contracts have been signed.

The practice is considered the opposite of gazumping and will only occur in a buyers' market where it can be expected that the seller is desperate to close the deal.

And according to Fool.co.uk, while six out of ten people deem gazundering to be unethical, 94 per cent of people admit that they would deploy the tactic themselves given the opportunity.

Donna Werbner, property expert at Fool.co.uk, explained: "Falling house prices create a terrible moral dilemma for buyers. If they don't gazunder, they could potentially find their property has fallen in value before they have even bought it."

She added, however, that people who do gazunder also run the risk of losing out on the sale altogether, as nearly a quarter of sellers would refuse to do business with a gazunderer.

News posted on 8th May, 2008