Polls predict that the Labour Party is set for a landslide win in this week’s General Eelection.
But, whatever the outcome, at the top of the next Government’s to do list should be the reform of the notoriously sluggish homebuying process. We urgently need Government to take ownership of this issue if the housing market is to function efficiently.
Most consumers are unaware that there is no single department or person in Government with overall responsibility for the homebuying journey, nor any holistic policy or strategic plan. Property data sits across multiple Government departments, each with their own processes, roadmaps, and approach to customer access to data.
Less than 1% of property data is available in an acceptable digital format despite the commitments made in 2018 to digitise titles, deeds, searches, and planning data and the publication of the UK’s National Data Strategy in 2020.
Much of the homebuying process remains reliant on paper, duplication, multiple signatures, and manual checks. Consequently, it is taking an average of 22 weeks for customers to reach completion on their home purchase.
There are few, if any, customer-facing industries in which a consumer would be expected to tolerate such a poor experience, never mind one of the most expensive and important events in our life. We have one of the worst functioning housing markets in Europe, and our uniquely torturous chain and archaic system has much to do with this, impacting on productivity and efficiency at every step of the process.
Undoubtedly, this situation has not been helped by a revolving door of housing ministers. Astoundingly, since 2010, we have seen 16 different people come and go in this vital role. To put it into context, no housing minister has been in post for long enough to see through the typical seven-year home-building and buying cycle.
Matters have not been helped by housing supply and house prices dominating the housing debate, leaving the actual homebuying experience out in the cold.
Time for action
This lack of focus and a poor homebuying process are not unique to an individual political party. We have been calling for action since I joined the industry in 2005, when a Labour Government was in power. Since then, the homebuying experience has deteriorated further.
Most recently, I gave evidence to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee’s ‘Improving the home buying and selling process’ inquiry, calling for the legislation we need and deployment of frameworks which already exist to enable the entire home buying and selling process to be digitised within three years.
Converting property data sources and documents to a digital format and mandating that this data is available to consumers and the services that represent them at the start of the process, with trust and shareability through open data standards, would be the vital first step in digitising the process. This would significantly speed things up and create much needed transparency for everyone in the chain.
Our mission at OPDA is for every company, in every part of the mortgage and property chain, to share open data in a digital, standardised, and trusted format.
Our membership includes Lloyds Banking Group, Atom bank, UTB, OntheMarket, Coadjute, PEXA, Moverly, Inventory Base, OMS, TMGroup, Groundsure, Sprift, LMS, Kotini, Homely, and many others committed to these reforms and to radically improving the homebuying process.
We have already delivered our framework for property data standards, which has made free and shareable data tools available across the property industry. Those using our data standard for digital property packs have seen time reduced from offer accepted on a house and a mortgage to exchange of contracts within 15 days. Our work shows what can be achieved.
But, to progress further, we urgently need focus, ownership and leadership from Government. This should be at the highest level such as with the Treasury or the Cabinet Office. We need Government to publish the long-awaited Future of Homebuying strategy, including the roadmap for public and local authority data to be digitised and to set the expectations for industry adoption of open standards, interoperability, and trust.
Alternatively, homebuying could be ‘owned’ and led by an independent body or figure, someone who has homebuyers’ and sellers’ interests at heart, a mandate for driving change, and accountability for getting the reforms delivered. This could be an independent housing commissioner or an organisation that is outside the political system such as the Land Registry or Bank of England. For example, although the Land Registry is outside of politics, it is systemically important. Housing needs the same approach.
Either way, a well-functioning housing market and a good home-buying experience are fundamental to the financial wellbeing of the nation. But these cannot be achieved without wholesale reform of the homebuying process which puts digitisation, improved technology and cyber standards, and shareable data centre.
No matter which party forms the next Government, it must take ownership of this important issue. Let’s see the back of an embarrassingly poor and costly user experience, with its high fall-through rates, and unacceptable levels of fraud, that we tolerate from this sluggish process.
Maria Harris is chair of the Open Property Data Association
