As advertised conveyancing jobs decline by 20% in one week, I ask: what does this mean for the conveyancing sector?
As someone that wants to know what’s going on in the sector, I measure the number of jobs advertised for conveyancers in the UK every day to determine how confident conveyancers are. The results in the last week have been astonishing.
With just over a week since the mini budget, and at the time of writing this article on the 1st October 2022, sentiment and confidence in the conveyancing sector looks to have taken a massive tumble.
In the last seven days the number of advertised jobs in the UK for “conveyancers” has reduced by 19%, falling to about 1455. I don’t believe there has been a sudden surge of people filling the roles; it’s much more likely that conveyancing firms have just placed less adverts because they don’t have, or don’t expect to have, as much work.
Who could blame firms for being cautious ? The press is full of people talking down the market and convincing everyone now is not the time to buy a house.
Putting the numbers in context a few days after lockdown advertised conveyancing jobs went down to about 400. This soared in the weeks around the end of lockdown and the stamp duty peak to about 2200. The market for conveyancing staff is still busy and there is still a shortage of good, experienced conveyancers, it’s just that the heat has come off a bit as people worry about the coming months.
The merry-go-round of conveyancers moving from conveyancer to conveyancer to improve their pay or perception of conditions of work may be slowing down slightly, but conveyancing wages continue to rise. Might this change ?
As confidence drops, firms that want new staff may find it harder to convince candidates to move as concerns about last in, first out mentality drive behaviours. Until, that is, redundancies or firm failures happen for firms that don’t manage their finances well.
In the meantime, one of the things I am doing in a consultancy capacity is helping a firm to grow their staff base. I can see how much time and effort some firms devote to rewarding and looking after their people; and how some firms don’t. I see the drain from firms as staff move to self-employed consultant opportunities.
Every conveyancing firm and every conveyancer should ask if their future is secure given the changes in the economy and have sensible discussions and plans set ahead of things getting potentially worse.
If you feel undervalued, poorly treated and/or the technology that your firms relies on is just painful, don’t look at this negatively. There are 1455 jobs you can do and lots of really good firms that have strong balance sheets and who aren’t going to just cull the last people they recruit if it gets worse out there.
If you are a firm planning for a down turn, acting early is the best way to weather future changes.
Let’s hope confidence returns but acknowledge it might not.
Oh, and I fully acknowledge it takes a full on conveyancing market geek to record the number of conveyancing jobs advertised every day and perhaps I should take up golf.
Chris Harris, Sector Specialist
chris.harris@resolutem.co.uk
07983 485490
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One Response
interesting stats Chris. With the market appearing to be changing, should our focus now be on making sure fee levels, and salaries, are at (kept at) reasonable levels? And, will the recruitment issue soften if transaction levels reduce?