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Britain has the highest rate of “guzumping” in Europe and nearly 3.3 million home buyers, constituting 37 per cent, had been victims of this practice, according to a study by life insurance firm Scottish Widows.

Guzumping is a practice where a seller of a house agrees to an offer by a prospective buyer, but sells the house subsequently to another offering a higher price.

The study also found that one in three buyers have seen the purchase of a new home fall through.

While Scotland has stricter rules making guzumping impossible, the 37 per cent puts Britain ahead of countries like Italy (30 per cent), France (29 per cent), Spain (25 per cent) and Germany (18 per cent), according to the study.

Murdo McHardy of Scottish Widows said people in the country are obsessed with property and guzumping is a problem that hits the people hard. Along with guzumping, there are other factors like financial problems or a change of plan following survey, which have all together contributed to 8.7 million Britons experiencing a deal falling through, the study said.

Nearly three out of 10 Britons told the survey they could not buy a property they had wanted because the seller took it off the market, 19 per cent said the seller pulled out after doing a survey and 5 said they lost as they could not get a pre arranged mortgage.

Scottish Widows said people in Britain spend less time in assessing a home before buying, nearly 66 per cent of the buyers spend less than 30 minutes evaluating the house and the deal on offer.

Around 35 per cent of buyers settled for a house after seeing it only once, while 11 per cent bought one without seeing it at all. Nearly 20 per cent of people bought the first property they looked at.

Full story at ABC Money