28 Skyline | Edition 7 | Winter 2024
Maria Harris
Chair Open Property Data Association process is having. However, the impact on our industry is equally detrimental with an average of 130 documents and 300 contact points being generated on every purchase transaction. Those alone account for over 9 million hours of wasted and unproductive time every year that impacts on our costs, resources, cashflow, productivity, and efficiency.
The Open Property Data Association( OPDA) is the first trade association created specifically to improve the process through data standards and transparency in the UK property market. As a trade body dedicated to collaboration and the creation of open and standardised property data, OPDA brings together key stakeholders from every part of the transaction from estate agent portals, intermediaries, mortgage lenders, conveyancers, software and proptech firms, and everyone in between. All members join with the same commitment and vision: to transform the customer and industry home buying experience through open data and standards.
Buying a property and getting a mortgage has always relied on documents and manual processes, starting right back when we bought the deeds pack directly from the seller and we all sat in a room with bank managers and lawyers to sign the paperwork. Now, we’ ve largely moved to online systems and portals but the process still requires customers, intermediaries, and the rest of the transaction parties to provide, validate, and share the same information and the same documents multiple times.
It’ s never been the fastest or the slickest of processes, but it’ s arguably worse now than ever before. Despite all the technological advancements we’ ve seen across the industry and the huge investments in intermediary and lender platforms, the experience for customers and our industry has deteriorated:
1 the number of transactions falling through has been stubbornly consistent at around 30 %.
1 the number of transactions which experience delays has increased with the average time to completion now at 22 weeks – up from 16 weeks in 2017.
1 home buying has become the second worst life experience, generating huge levels of stress for everyone involved.
From verifying customer identity to finding out the most important information about the property being sold, our customers and everyone who represents them face inefficiency, repetition, and frustration throughout the transaction. The data we need isn’ t available when we need it, often being surfaced too late in the process when costs have been incurred or even worse, after critical and emotional decisions have been made – whether the property meets the customer’ s requirements, it’ s suitability as security for the mortgage lender, the ability to complete the transaction to meet what the customer and chain needs. To compound this, over 99 % of property information sources such as titles, deeds, searches, planning information, etc. exist in non-digital and non-standardised formats, making it difficult to access, verify, and share relevant information when it’ s needed most.
With 85 % of customers citing a poor home buying and selling experience and 95 % asking for the process to be improved, it’ s clear to see the impact this poor
We are making real and sustainable process in transforming the UK property market