The Q4 2023 edition of Landmark’s Residential Property Trends Report is now live. Within the report, you’ll find the latest data from the residential property transaction pipeline, including listings, SSTC/SSTM, searches ordered and completions.

This is a market poised for return. Whilst supply remains consistently robust, subsequent pipeline metrics such as SSTC / SSTM, searches ordered and completions are still flat.

Key findings from Q4 ‘23 include:

  • Listing activity in England and Wales in Q4 ‘23 registered the same volumes recorded in  Q4 ‘19.  
  • Completions dropped in England and Wales in Q4 ’23 – 38% lower than Q4 ‘19.
  • In Scotland, listings for Q4 ‘23 were 9% up on Q4 ’19, but completions were subdued by 13% vs Q4 ’19.
  • Overall, dispute healthy listings, the residential pipeline remains constrained.

Download the Cross Market Activity edition covering England, Wales and Scotland, revealing the most recent residential property market data for Q4 2023. We hope you find the report a helpful steer as we begin 2024.

Landmark’s major new cross-market report has uncovered the top challenges and priorities for 2024 shared by estate agents, conveyancers, surveyors and lenders across the transaction chain.  

Our new cross-market report found that market challenges and the length of time it takes to complete a transaction to be among the top frustrations shared by all residential property professionals. 

The report, entitled ‘Future Thinking: what’s driving property professionals into 2024?’, features the views of hundreds of estate agents, conveyancers, surveyors and lenders.  

A striking convergence  

Our findings highlight some of the challenges and frustrations that senior property professionals are currently prioritising and sense-checks these against the aspirations of home movers.  

Here are some of the key headlines:  

  • Economic headwinds have clearly affected the sector, with over 75% of all groups citing the current economic climate, interest rates and the cost of living as a leading business concern for the next year.   
  • The length of time to complete a transaction was a top three frustration in the transactional process for estate agents (37%), surveyors (40%) and lenders (36%).
  • The ever-increasing regulatory and admin burden placed on property professionals appeared as a top five frustration for all four groups, with lenders ranking highest in this area, with 55% agreeing.  
  • All groups spent over 20% of their working days chasing or being chased – with poor communication among stakeholders cited as a top five frustration for estate agents and conveyancers in particular.   
  • Looking ahead, better technology and less administration were seen a key for all groups in improving efficiencies and reducing costs. 

Protracted timeframes  

Our research also canvassed the views of 500 home movers, with this group also sharing the sentiment expressed by property professionals to speed-up transactions. In fact, the majority of consumers aspired to wrap up their home moves within an 8-week timeframe – which is in stark contrast to the current average transaction time of 19 weeks1.  

A desire for digitisation  

The report also highlighted a remarkable consensus regarding the best solutions to addressing these challenges. Digitising workflows featured highly for three of the four groups, with surveyors (63%) and lenders (55%) ranking it as the leading factor that would have the biggest impact on productivity, and estate agents placing it third (41%.)   

Simon Brown, CEO, Landmark Information Group says:   

“Our research has thrown into sharp focus the many shared challenges our sector is facing. It also reminds us that we’re all part of the same property ecosystem, and although our roles and areas of expertise are different, we share more areas of commonality than we perhaps thought.   

“If we are all experiencing some of the same frustrations around difficult communications, increasing amounts of administration and a desire for better technology, then we need to focus on a collaborative solution to provide the speed and certainty the property professionals and consumers are so desperately craving.”   

Access our new market research report here.

The Q3 2023 edition of Landmark’s Residential Property Trends Report is live. Within the report, you’ll find the latest insights into the residential property transaction pipeline from listings to SSTC/SSTM, and from searches to completions. 

Whilst supply is holding up, subsequent pipeline metrics such as SSTC / SSTM, searches ordered and completions remain low.

Key findings from Q3 include:

  • Listing activity is up in England and Wales – 1% higher over Q3 ’23 vs Q3 ‘19.
  • Completions dropped in England and Wales in Q3 ’23 – 35% lower than Q3 ‘19.
  • In Scotland, listings are 4% up on Q3 ’19, but completions are subdued by 18% vs Q3 ’19.
  • Overall, supply is still struggling to progress through the pipeline.

Download the Cross Market Activity edition for England, Wales and Scotland, and view the latest residential property market data for Q3 2023.

We hope you find the report helpful.

The Q2 2023 edition of Landmark’s Residential Property Trends Report is now live. Within the report, you’ll find the latest insights into the residential property transaction pipeline from listings to SSTC/SSTM, and from searches to completions. 

The report found that whilst supply is relatively strong, demand volumes are struggling to progress through the transactional pipeline.   

Headlines from Q2 include:
•    Supply is up in England and Wales – with listings 12% higher in June ’23 vs June ‘19
•    Completions dropped in England and Wales in Q2 ’23 – 39% lower than Q2 ‘19
•    In Scotland, the picture is marginally better but buyers are similarly constrained  
•    Overall, demand volumes struggle to progress across Great Britain as high interest rates, restricted mortgage availability and squeezed affordability continue to drive an uncertain market.

Download the Cross Market Activity edition for England, Wales and Scotland, and review the latest property market data during the second quarter of 2023.

We hope you find the report useful.

Did you know that the average time to buy a property in England is 133 days That’s 80% longer than in 2007. 

With transaction times lengthening, we delve into 15 years’ worth of data to uncover what’s really holding up the home-buying process.

Including sector-led perspectives from estate agency, conveyancing, surveying and lending, our Property Transactions Report investigates why buying a property in England and Wales is taking so long – and what we can do to unlock the value in the buying chain.

Our latest Property Transactions Report addresses some of the key questions facing the sector right now, including: 

  • What’s the average time from instruction to completion?
  • Where are the bottlenecks in the home-buying process?
  • What’s the average turnaround time for a valuation?
  • How can technology unlock the value in the transactional chain? 

Access the Property Transactions Report

Our recent webinar ‘The Law Society Guidance on the Impact of Climate Change on Solicitors: What does this mean for solicitors?’ is now available to watch on demand.

The webinar, hosted by Landmark, focussed on The Law Society Guidance on the Impact of Climate Change on Solicitors, and was originally shown on the 4th May.

The webinar was specifically designed for solicitors as a tool to help them understand the guidance and its implications.

The session covers two main areas of the guidance.

  • Firstly, reducing the climate change impact of the law firm and its clients, which includes assessing annual carbon emissions and setting targets to achieve net zero by 2050.
  • Secondly, the guidance examines climate change risks, including the duties of advising and warning clients about such risks.

Our distinguished speakers are Kirsty Green-Mann, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Burges Salmon LLP, Professor Robert Lee at Birmingham University, and Simon Boyle, Environmental Lawyer at Landmark. 

AGENDA:

  • Summary of the Law Society Guidance and what this means for solicitors’ advice
  • What’s the role that a law firm plays in reducing its carbon footprint and disclosing climate-related risks and opportunities?
  • An overview of how Burges Salmon has implemented Net Zero
  • Panel Discussion: What are the requirements for lawyers to fulfil the guidance and next steps for them
  • Q&A

To watch the webinar on demand, please visit this page, and fill in the form.