Fears for sustainability of conveyancing as research suggests fees are down 3.5% year on year

The average cost of conveyancing has fallen by 3.5% year-on year, with a 3% quarterly fall seen between Q2 and Q3 this year alone, new research shows.

Analysis of more than 77,000 conveyancing quotes by home comparison site reallymoving found that buyers and sellers are now paying an average total of £2,364 for conveyancing services.

Costs were 3.5% lower than in Q3 last year – a fall of 6.5% after adjusting for CPI inflation, the figures revealed.

A fall in costs is “concerning”, reallymoving founder Rob Houghton suggests, as firms are already balancing the pressure of margins with the urgent need to invest in the future.

“Conveyancers are managing increasingly complex anti-money laundering checks, building and fire safety requirements, leasehold issues and cybercrime risks alongside the core legal work of buying and selling a home – all while fees are declining,” Houghton explained.

“Inflation is compounding the challenge, widening the gap between what firms can charge and the cost of delivering their services.”

Regionally, nine out of 12 areas saw quarterly prices drop in Q3, led by the West Midlands which saw a -9.3% decline in fees, along with East Midlands who saw a -5.3% fall.

Houghton continued: “Lower costs may benefit home movers in the short term, but sustained pressure on fees over time will only weaken the sector’s capacity to deliver the fast, efficient and high-quality service movers need, especially as the government’s homebuying and selling reforms approach.”

The Conveyancing Costs Index tracks the average prices paid by home movers for legal services across the country and how they are changing over time, with historical data going back to 2018.

Graph: reallymoving