Digitisation could halve property transaction times, says new report

The Future Property Transaction Group (FPT Group), a multi-stakeholder initiative established by PEXA, has published its report, Future of Residential Property Transactions.

The report finds that, even before upcoming reforms in the homebuying sector take effect, digital adoption and process improvements could significantly reduce mortgage completion times—from an average of 126 days to around 59 days from application.

The findings are based on a 12-month regional pilot in West Yorkshire, which used more than 40,000 lines of anonymised data from lenders, conveyancers, and technology providers. The analysis identified steps to address fragmentation and inefficiencies in the property transaction process, which the report estimates cost the UK economy approximately £1.5bn annually in failed transactions.

The FPT Group outlines a roadmap for stakeholders, including encouraging early legal instruction and wider adoption of digital onboarding, piloting integrated digital transactions and enhanced leasehold information, and promoting unified digital identity, interoperable infrastructure, and changes to anti-money-laundering supervision.

Joe Pepper, UK CEO of PEXA, said: “The FPT Group was set up to provide a collaborative space in which all industry players can drive progress in the home buying journey. The market is under immense pressure, with consumers increasingly expecting faster progress and clearer updates, so anything we can do to ease the burden for conveyancers who are trying to deliver good consumer outcomes should be a top priority.

“There are clearly steps that we can take to drive progress in the short-term. Longer-term, the Government is quite rightly looking holistically at what positive reforms can support our industry and improve the home buying process. This shared endeavour shows the ability and willingness of the sector to come together and drive positive change. What is critical now, for both the industry, and Government, is to act on this insight.”

The FPT Group’s analysis highlights that while the total “time to move” currently averages over 200 days, many of the tools to address key friction points exists today, and if the market were able to operate at the speed of the top 50% of transactions, the average time to buy a home would be halved.

Key data insights include:

+ Mortgage Timelines: Transitioning from manual to digital workflows can reduce the application-to-completion period by 53%.

+ Source of Funds (SoF): Adopting digital SoF tools can deliver an 80–90% efficiency gain, reducing processing times from 2–3 weeks of manual “back and forth” to just 2–3 days.

+ Leasehold Delays: The report found leasehold transactions take an average of 34 days longer than freeholds, often due to a lack of early clarity regarding management company details.

Pepper added: “It is clear that the priorities for the sector include digitising processes to address the top pain points, such as AML checks, creating a system that is more transparent and upfront with data, and setting far more realistic expectations with consumers for what is a significant legal undertaking. The stats around the time saving for digitising checks and the transfer of funds simply cannot be ignored.”