Sold Subject to Contract monitor

One in four won't make it to completion.

How to spot which SSTC in your pipeline is at risk – before the fall-through happens.

Kieran Slinger · Propalt · For estate agents

Sold Subject to Contract used to feel like the finish line. Now it's closer to the starting gun for a different problem. Fall-through rates have run at 25 to 30 percent in recent years – so roughly one in four SSTCs in your pipeline won't complete, and the ones most at risk are the ones dragging on longest.

Agents who run their pipelines well don't wait for the fall-through. They watch the pace of every SSTC and get in front of the ones slowing down, before buyer or vendor loses their nerve.

That takes data – specifically, knowing what a normal completion timeline looks like for similar deals locally, so you can spot which of yours is running behind.

What slow looks like, and why it matters

The national average time from SSTC to completion has stretched significantly in recent years, driven by conveyancing capacity, mortgage processing times and survey queues. But local variation is substantial. In some areas the average is ten weeks; in others it is sixteen. An agent who applies the national figure to a local market will misflag both ends of the distribution.

The signal that matters is not absolute time but relative time. A transaction running four weeks behind the local average for its property type and price band is worth a proactive call. One running eight weeks behind needs active intervention.

That pipeline view – flagging the two transactions worth a proactive call this week and confirming the two that do not need attention – turns pipeline management from a reactive exercise into a proactive one.

The vendor call that prevents a fall-through

Most fall-throughs are preceded by a period of silence. The buyer goes quiet. The vendor stops hearing updates. Anxiety builds on both sides. By the time someone raises the alarm, the buyer has often already mentally withdrawn and is just waiting for a reason to formalise it.

The agent who calls the vendor at week ten with a market update – here is where things stand, and here is what I would recommend we do – is the agent who keeps both parties calm and engaged. That call is the difference between a fall-through and a completion.

The Propalt SSTC Monitor surfaces the transactions that need that call, pulling local average completion data to benchmark each one. The agent gets a prioritised list each week without manual tracking, without a spreadsheet, and without guesswork.

A fall-through rarely arrives without warning. The agent who spots the signal early is the one who prevents it.

Keep your pipeline moving from SSTC to completion.

Try the SSTC Monitor → propalt.ai

Pipeline data shown is illustrative. SSTC timelines vary significantly by location, property type and market conditions. This article is general information for estate agency professionals.