There has been a 15% fall in the number of conveyancers in England and Wales from just over 13,000 to 11,140 between September 2021 and January 2025 according to data from the Law Society published in the latest UK Residential Conveyancing Market 2025 from IRN Legal Reports.
As has been widely reported, the pressure and stress of the role, combined with various stamp duty initiatives have pushed many conveyancers to the brink and beyond. And with transaction volumes set to increase in 2025 demand for ‘property solicitors’ has skyrocketed according to the recruitment website indeed.com, who say vacancies have jumped by 111% over the past 12 months. Conveyancers are now second only to teachers on the jobs website, with an average salary on offer of £53,000
In a sign of continued consolidation figures from the law societies in the UK (England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) indicate a 9% decrease in the number of firms who generate income from residential conveyancing since September 2021; an estimated 6,000 law firms. That number falls further when the number of conveyancers registered as account holders with HM Land Registry is measured. At the end of 2022 there were just over 4,000 and at the end of 2023 there were 3,838. In January 2025 there were 3,539.
The report goes on to highlight this smaller number of conveyancers and firms will need to deal with a growing market. Transaction numbers have steadily fallen since the peak of the pandemic, from 1.47m transactions in 2021, 1.26m in 2022, and 1.02m in 2023. 2024 saw a c.6% growth in transaction volumes around 1.08m. It also means a growth in market value to £2.3bn, up 4.5% on 2023 (£2.2bn).
And further growth through to 2028 will put even more pressure on firms with IRN Legal Reports forecasting growth in transactions of 6% in 2025, the same as in 2024. Market value is forecast to grow by 5.7% in 2025. Between 2024 and 2028, market value compound annual growth rate is forecast at 4.47%.
2024 also saw consultant firm Taylor Rose take the top spot in transaction volumes at HM Land Registry, overtaking long-time market leader My Home Move, albeit My Home Move’s parent company Simplify includes six other conveyancers which combined would keep them on top spot. Two of the top five by transaction volume are consultant firms, with Setfords joining Taylor Rose in third place. The other brands were Birmingham-based Davisons Solicitors, and Manchester’s PLS Solicitors.
But the market remains hugely fragmented, with the largest players continuing to increase their market gradually. Taylor Rose’s 18,107 transactions accounted for for 1.8% of all transactions in England and Wales in 2024. My Home Move had a 1.4% share but if the other conveyancing brands in the Simplify group are added the combined share is around 4% of transactions. The top 10 conveyancers by transaction volume accounted for 9.7% of all transactions in England and Wales. The next ten firms take a combined share of 4.4% of all transactions. In total, the top 20 firms had a 14.1% share of all transactions by volume in 2024.
If the Labour government’s commitment to building 1.5m in this Parliament are realised, or even come close, there will be ‘clear benefit for conveyancers’ the report concludes, adding
“However, it remains to be seen if this is a practical target with major obstacles including the need to find many more construction workers relatively quickly and the government’s ability to transform the planning system.”
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4 responses
So the vast majority of conveyancers work for SME employers (2-4 partners) yet the focus is on those who transact the most by volume.
There’s an obsession in property transaction reporting with big business and a complete failure to properly analyse the market and report what is really happening and what really needs to happen ie every person in a consumer facing role to be qualified, mentored and trained to be self sufficient and efficient.
Is it any wonder that there are fewer conveyancers when we are treated so shabbily by the CLC and The Law Society? None of them look after Conveyancers. They are great at making our jobs harder and more miserable. The quite appalling treatment of us with the update of the TA6 shows that.
Absolutely agree with Conveyancer. We are being bullied by the very people who are meant to have brains and stick up for us.
Doesn’t help when leaders refuse to acknowledge their part in the causation of issues such as “factory conveyancing”. No two properties are the same and no two clients are the same. They are just trying to pigeon hole everyone into the same boxes.
Ever wondered why it went quicker when the postal service was more reliable and we didn’t have to “catch the bad guys”?
The figures detailing who the transaction leaders are as above are very telling. Having to deal with firms like that, day on day, is both frustrating and soul destroying, and in the end just sucks the will to work from you. Add to that the very good point by ‘Conveyancer’ and there is no joy in working in the profession today. Though I use the term “profession” loosely since there are now so many toxic non-conveyancers inside and otside the profession trying to tell us all what to do that you wonder how anyone gets any work done.
Me? I’m through with it all – 43 years experience coming out the profession in November this year and I dare say an awful lot more good people going too. Still AI and technology will save conveyancing, won’t it?