Market analysis from Credas Technologies, the identity verification checks provider, indicates that the real estate sector is entering its busiest time of year for anti-money laundering (AML) checks.
The findings suggest that the nation’s estate agents are set for an even busier period following an already hectic start to the year.
Credas Technologies analysed historic data on the seasonal distribution of real estate AML registrations and found that spring has now overtaken winter as the busiest season for estate agents.
Data from the company also showed a 45.3% increase in AML market activity between January and December and a 21.6% rise compared to January 2022.
Previously, winter held the record for the highest percentage of AML registrations, with 35.1% in 2018-19 and 37.6% in 2019-20. In 2020-21, summer saw the most registrations at 31.5%, likely driven by the housing market boom created by the Government’s pandemic stamp duty holiday.
However, in 2021-22, spring became the busiest season with 27.7% of all AML registrations, a trend that continues this year.
For 2022-23, it is anticipated that spring will account for 28% of all AML registrations, followed by 26.5% in summer, 24.1% in winter, and 21.4% in autumn.
Tim Barnett, CEO of Credas Technologies, said: “It’s been an exceptionally busy start to the year for the nation’s estate agents, logging more AML registrations than last year when the pandemic market boom was still in full swing.
“Our historic data shows that this uptick in market activity looks set to continue throughout the spring months and this suggests that any fears of a housing market downturn are now firmly behind us.”
Barnett added that this trend implies that concerns over a housing market downturn are now behind us.
However, he emphasised the need for estate agents to ensure sufficient stock, staff, and AML measures to avoid operational bottlenecks during peak buyer activity, saying, “This is great news for the nation’s agents but, of course, means ensuring that they’ve got sufficient stock on the books and staff in the office to serve eager springtime buyers.
“It also means making sure that they’ve got the required AML measures in place in order to process all of the required registrations without a spike in buyer activity causing an operational bottleneck.”
