The Department for Business & Trade published its report, Understanding the Costs and Benefits of Smart Data Use Cases, assessing how it could be used across various sectors.
Smart Data encourages the secure sharing of data across businesses under agreed standards.
The report said that when used for home buying, this could create £14.1bn in net social value and contribute £2.06bn to UK gross domestic product (GDP) each year by 2043.
It said streamlining data flows could reduce transaction failures, reduce costs and improve market liquidity.
Benefits identified by the government included efficient processing, reduced administrative burden on firms, faster transaction cycles, increased pricing of services reflecting the added value and an increased pipeline from fewer fall-throughs.
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Implementing Smart Data could result in costs to develop digital property records, create API to manage data sharing and the maintenance of government digital records to ensure accuracy.
It found there would be a benefit-cost ratio of 9.81, meaning for every £1 in costs, nearly £10 in benefits would be generated.
Maria Harris, chair of the OPDA, said the findings showed that modernising the current home buying process was both an “economic necessity” and “major national opportunity”.
She added: “This report confirms that Smart Data in home buying is one of the highest value digital reforms available to the UK. By enabling secure, standardised and reusable property data, we can reduce delays, fall‑throughs and inefficiencies – and unlock billions in economic growth.
“Government now has a clear mandate to prioritise Smart Data for home buying. With the right policy support, we can build a faster, more transparent and more resilient property market that benefits consumers and the wider economy.”
Stephen Ward, director of strategy at the CLC, said: “This careful analysis shows the value of the work that is underway to transform home buying and selling in England and Wales. The CLC is very pleased to be the regulatory sponsor of the Smart Property Data Trust Framework project being delivered by the OPDA and Raidiam.
“We urge conveyancers of all kinds to consider getting involved with the work to develop and test a truly digital way of delivering property transactions with benefits for clients and conveyancers, as well as the housing market and wider economy.”
The report also looked at the benefits of using Smart Data for green home upgrades, finding this could generate £745m in value, at £50m each year on average.
This would be through higher revenue generated by financial firms, increased productivity and revenue growth in the construction sector.
