This pre-qualification should extend beyond checking to see whether the prospective buyer will qualify for the requisite home loan.

 "Buyers must also have sufficient cash to cover all the additional costs of a home purchase, including inspection fees, bond registration, stamp duties and legal fees as well as the transfer duty otherwise the transfer will be delayed or even fall through," he says.

 The steep rise in home prices over the past two years means that buyers are putting proportionately more of their available cash into deposits, he says. " Most of the fees associated with a home purchase are applied on a sliding scale, so the more expensive the property, the greater the hidden costs of acquiring it.

 "The individual selling his own property tends either to forget that the buyer will need a substantial additional cash sum, or lacks the temerity to ask a buyer about his financial status."

 Buyers needed to know all the extra amounts payable, while sellers needed to know whether the buyer can in fact pay on time.