ARTICLE

Residential Conveyancing:

What does the future hold for 2024?

The latest market research from Landmark includes data collected from conveyancers and homemakers to understand the residential property market as it stands and how you can look to the future.

In Landmark’s latest residential market research, over 100 residential property professionals, along with 500 home movers, shared their thoughts to help us to understand what the future holds for the industry.

Read the report to discover your colleagues and client’s views on:

• The biggest impacts on conveyancing’s future success

• The benefits of receiving data insights on a property and its location

• Frustrations with the transactional process

• The impact of recent legislative changes

• Digital transformation

• Net zero and climate change.

Landmark has a unique view on the UK property market, with a wealth of datasets across the industry. Regularly conducting indepth surveys, such as this one, for deeper insights.

An uncertain market

Times have been tough for conveyancers. Each year, it seems, there are additional responsibilities for fee earners to master and extra pressures to assimilate.

Landmark data reveals that the average time from instruction to completion takes 77% longer than it did in 2007. At the same time, most law firms would probably say the work their conveyancers carry out on each transaction has doubled over the past 16 years. Yet fees have not.

No wonder 80% of residential property lawyers and conveyancers are concerned about the negative effect the current economic climate, interest rates and the cost of living are having on the property market.

But is there also reason for optimism?

Insight as a platform for improvement

Our recent market research gives us invaluable insights into the residential property market. It shows us what’s currently of concern to conveyancers and where they see future opportunities to help drive the success and profitability of their businesses.

It also places a revealing lens on home movers’ perspectives –their expectations, thoughts on the industry, and views on what can be done to improve the home-buying experience.

Certainty in short supply

This year, we spoke to 100 residential property solicitors and conveyancers. Each will have their own individual concerns and priorities, but what jumps out at me is how much the sector as a whole is having to grapple with a lack of certainty, whether that’s chain instability or debates around who should provide customers with certain types of information. For instance, 72% are concerned about the impact protracted transaction timescales are having on chain certainty.

To view the whole report, please visit: https://www.landmark. co.uk/news-insights/industry-reports/residential-conveyancingwhat-does-the-future-hold-for-2024/ ■