Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of gazundering in the residential property market; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative and regulatory measures to protect buyers and sellers from last-minute price reductions prior to the exchange of contracts.

On 6 October 2025, my Department published two consultations outlining reform proposals to transform home buying and selling, including the use of conditional contracts to make transactions binding at an early stage and requiring upfront property information.

These consultations can be found on gov.uk here and here.

Both consultations closed on 29 December. We are now reviewing the feedback received.

Subject to the outcomes of the analysis being undertaken, we will publish a roadmap setting out further details of our reforms later this year.