Chain-free property

A chain-free property is a property that is being sold by a vendor (home seller) who does not need to purchase a new property after they sell. Only 10% of all property transactions in the United Kingdom are chain-free.
Origins of the term.
The term 'property chain' is common in real estate, especially in the UK. The chain is the line of people buying and selling. For example, there might be a first time buyer trying to purchase a small flat, another person waiting to move from the flat to a small house, another person waiting to move from the small house to a larger house and so on. If one person drops out of the chain, the sellers are not able to continue with their moves and the chain collapses.
Reasons for chain-free properties.
Chain-free properties are available for numerous reasons:
Recent rise in volumes and popularity among home buyers.
The sale of chain-free properties has risen in the past two years, mainly due to the rising number of properties being repossessed in light of the credit crunch. After repossessing properties, lenders look to sell the properties on so they can unlock the cash tied up in them and use it to rebuild their damaged mortgage books. With house prices falling in the past two years, these properties are usually priced to sell quickly to limit any losses on the properties.
Therefore, there are obvious benefits in purchasing a chain-free property: