Speeding up property transactions: Staying the course – Rudolf

Buyers and sellers alike – indeed all stakeholders, particularly professionals working within it – are left frustrated by a process that can stretch out for months, with too many opportunities for deals to fall through and confidence to evaporate.

For years now, the industry has been aware of the need to reform the system – to digitise it, to streamline it, and ultimately to deliver the kind of experience that today’s consumers expect.

And while the headlines continue to reflect the stubbornly high average transaction times – with reports putting them at 20-24 weeks from first listing – it’s important we don’t lose sight of the genuine and tangible progress being made. 

Property transactions are already getting faster 

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) Confidence Tracker recently revealed that, from offer accepted to completion, average timescales are now between three and four months. That’s an improvement and suggests the efforts of many stakeholders – conveyancers, lenders, estate agents, and advisers – are starting to pay off.

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Of course, we should be cautious not to compare apples with pears here; the tracker focuses on the period from offer to completion, while the longer figures often cover time from initial marketing.

But progress is progress, and it is supported by TwentyCi data, which confirms that the median exchange time from offer to subject sold to contract (SSTC) is 16 weeks, down from the highs of 20 weeks in 2022. 

The clear benefits of transparency 

However, it is not necessarily speed to completion that is key, but the speed to certainty. If we are to get to a point where transactions are not only quicker but also more certain, we must continue along this path with urgency and collaboration. 

One of the clearest signals of this progress is the forthcoming second version of the Digital Conveyancing Roadmap from the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG), which sets out how technology and process improvements can be better aligned across the property ecosystem.

The first iteration was instrumental in driving awareness and commitment, and this updated roadmap goes further in mapping out how digital ID checks, interoperable systems, upfront information, and standardised digital processes can work together to transform the transaction experience. 

The recent announcement from HM Land Registry that it will launch digital checks to save customers over 300,000 hours per year is another strong step in the right direction. Streamlining this part of the process, particularly identity verification, will remove a key bottleneck and provide more consistency across cases. It is innovations like these, implemented at scale and adopted widely, that can truly shift the needle. 

Similarly, efforts to provide upfront material information are starting to make a difference. I appreciate that there have been some recent changes in terms of material information provision, but the responsibilities to ensure this is delivered remain. 

Sellers who are supported to gather and present all necessary documentation early in the process are seeing faster, smoother transactions. And where estate agents are proactively embracing this, working closely with conveyancers and buyers’ representatives, the improvements are tangible. 

Industry collaboration is important too 

We also shouldn’t underestimate the impact of better collaboration between all stakeholders.

When mortgage advisers, estate agents, conveyancers, and lenders come together, share data and updates efficiently, and use the digital tools available to them – such as case tracking systems, digital onboarding, and e-signatures – the end-to-end process becomes more streamlined and far less prone to unnecessary delays. It’s this type of joined-up working that exemplifies what the roadmap is trying to achieve. 

There are many solutions now available that can and do make a difference: digital ID verification, automated anti-money laundering (AML) checks, use of digital dashboards, upfront property packs, Qualified Electronic Signatures, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven document reading, and improved application programming interfaces (APIs) between platforms.

Each one alone might shave days off the process, but together, they begin to transform the experience entirely.

Is the sector giving all its effort? 

What’s key is widespread adoption and that requires all of us to look at our own processes and ask: are we doing everything we can? 

Of course, there is more that the government can do, too. Commitment to digital infrastructure, like the digitalisation of Local Land Charges and wider property data availability, is vital. The ambition is there, but it must be matched with continued investment and prioritisation. We cannot allow progress to stall due to a lack of political will. 

So, while it may be tempting to focus only on the headline figures – and to despair that we haven’t cracked it yet – we must keep the faith. The evidence shows that where best practice is adopted, results follow. It’s not a pipe dream; it’s already happening.

The challenge now is to replicate that success across the board, to support those already doing the right things, and to nudge others into action. 

This is not about waiting for a silver bullet. It’s about recognising that change is happening, that collaboration works, and that every stakeholder has a role to play. We’re not at the finish line yet, but the direction is clear, and the benefits are already being felt.

Let’s stay the course.