The residential property market entered 2026 on more stable footing than many expected. Despite economic pressures and affordability challenges, the desire to move remains strong.
Landmark Information Group’s latest residential property trends report found that listing volumes across England and Wales were down 1% year-on-year in Q2 2026. June 2026 saw the strongest SSTC volumes of the year so far, although levels were 7% lower than 2025.
Completion levels were skewed by the unusually low volumes recorded in Q2 2025 following the SDLT changes at the end of March 2025. The result is a market that shows resilience, but global pressures and affordability continue to constrain home moving activity.
For law firms, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity.
Managing partners are under increasing pressure to balance profitability, client expectations and team capacity. Many firms believe they understand exactly where delays occur in their transactions, but industry-wide data often tells a different story. What feels like an unavoidable market issue may in fact be able to be managed via a process change that can be measured, benchmarked and improved.
The firms outperforming their peers in 2026 are not necessarily handling more matters. They are creating greater certainty, reducing friction and identifying opportunities for improvement earlier in the transaction lifecycle.
So, how healthy is your residential transaction conveyancing process compared with the wider market, and what parts of the process should you be focusing on improving?
The timeline challenge
Transaction speed remains one of the most important indicators of operational performance.
According to market data, the average residential purchase takes around 123 days from instruction to completion, with instruction to exchange often taking more than 112 days. At the same time, consumer expectations continue to rise. Landmark research found that the average home mover would ideally like a transaction completed in just 6.8 weeks.
This expectation gap creates significant pressure across the transaction process. Clients want updates more frequently, fee earners spend more time managing communication, and firms face increasing scrutiny over transaction times.
The challenge for senior partners is that outcomes are often easier to measure than the underlying factors driving them. They may know how long transactions take overall but have less visibility into where delays are being introduced.
Are files delayed because information is arriving too late? Are enquiries taking longer than expected? Are administrative processes creating unnecessary bottlenecks?
Without benchmarking against wider market performance, it’s difficult to know whether your firm’s timelines reflect industry norms or opportunities for improvement.
Upfront information: The biggest opportunity for greater certainty?
One of the clearest themes in residential conveyancing today is the industry’s growing focus on certainty. Whether driven by material information requirements, changing consumer expectations or broader market reform, there is increasing recognition that issues identified earlier are easier and cheaper to resolve than issues identified later.
Many firms still begin significant information gathering only after an offer is accepted. Others are moving key activities much earlier and using it as a service differentiator, including title reviews, identity verification, protocol forms and other upfront information that can help identify risks before they become transaction delays.
This shift is supported by government policy. In June 2026, the government published its response to the home buying and selling reform consultation, setting out plans to make upfront property information a standard part of the transaction process. The reforms aim to improve transparency, reduce fall-throughs and enable buyers, sellers and their advisers to access more complete information much earlier in the transaction lifecycle. Proposed requirements include information such as title details, seller identity verification, leasehold information, planning and environmental considerations, property condition information and searches being available earlier in the process.
Landmark has been closely involved in supporting the government and wider industry throughout the reform programme, helping to shape discussions around trusted property data, digital property packs and the practical steps needed to create a faster, more efficient and more certain home buying and selling process. The direction of travel is clear: improving the availability and quality of information at the outset of a transaction is becoming a market expectation rather than a future aspiration.
For firms looking to improve transaction certainty today, the question is no longer whether upfront information matters, but how consistently it is being captured, reviewed and used within the transaction process. Those that embrace earlier information gathering are often better positioned to reduce avoidable enquiries, identify issues sooner and give clients greater confidence in the progress of their transaction.
The hidden cost of chasing
Ask most conveyancing teams where their time goes and you’ll hear a familiar answer: chasing or responding to enquires.
Chasing updates, following up third parties, managing stakeholder communication and responding to client requests can consume a significant proportion of a team’s day. Industry benchmarking suggests that 41% of time can be spent on chasing activity and transaction updates.
While often accepted as part of the job, the operational impact is substantial.
Every unnecessary touchpoint creates additional workload. As matter volumes fluctuate and recruitment remains challenging, many firms are finding that increasing capacity through additional headcount alone is becoming harder to justify.
Reducing avoidable chasing presents one of the biggest opportunities for operational improvement.
The firms seeing the strongest gains are focusing on the root causes of communication rather than simply responding more quickly once requests arrive. Greater visibility, better information flow and clearer processes can all help reduce the need for manual intervention.
Technology, integration and AI
Technology is no longer a differentiator in itself.
Most residential conveyancing firms have invested in digital systems over the last decade. The real differentiator is how effectively those systems work together.
Disconnected platforms, duplicate data entry and manual processes continue to create inefficiencies across many firms. In contrast, leading firms are increasingly focused on integration, automation and practical applications of AI that reduce administrative burden and improve workflow efficiency.
The objective is not technology for technology’s sake.
It’s creating capacity.
Better integration between case management systems, search providers and digital onboarding tools can reduce duplication, improve visibility and allow teams to focus more of their time on progressing matters and supporting clients.
As pressure on margins and resources continues, firms that use technology to remove friction rather than simply digitise existing processes are likely to be best positioned for future growth.
How does your firm compare?
Many firms believe they understand their strengths and weaknesses.
But without benchmarking key metrics such as transaction timelines, upfront information practices, operational efficiency and technology maturity, it can be difficult to know how your performance compares with the wider market.
That’s why we’ve created the residential conveyancing benchmarking report.
Complete a short assessment and receive personalised insight into how your firm’s transaction process compares against market benchmarks, along with practical recommendations to help improve certainty, efficiency and client outcomes.
Take the assessment and find out how your firm scores today.
This article was submitted by Searchflow as part of an advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the advertiser and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
