U.K. House Buyers 'Offered Brexit Get-Out Clause'

London Housing
Terraced houses in Clapham, south London, Britain September 1, 2015. Brexit could hit housing markets. Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Prospective house buyers in the U.K. are being offered a Brexit get-out clause allowing them to pull out of the deal if Britain leaves the EU, according to reports.

Major estate agents and developers have been adding the agreements into their contracts to convince nervous buyers to commit, The Daily Telegraph reported. Sources told the paper agents are becoming desperate as the property market slows ahead of Britain's EU membership referendum.

The Chancellor George Osborne, who is campaigning for a "Remain" vote in the referendum, has warned that a decision to leave the EU could dramatically hit U.K. house prices. Houses could be worth up to 18 percent less than if the UK voted to remain in the event of a "Brexit," he said in May.

International property consultancy JLL warned of a slowdown in the housing market earlier this month, saying that it had seen a 30 percent fall in UK transactions in the first quarter of this year, with some 45 percent of investors expected to put off any buying or selling decisions until after the referendum.

Meanwhile, a string of recent polls putting the anti-EU campaign in the lead have driven turmoil in markets around the world. On Monday stocks fell, the Japanese Yen surged and bond yields fell to new lows, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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