Conveyancers fear the worst as stamp duty cut mooted
Rates of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) will once again become the subject of change as Liz Truss looks to cut the tax on moving homes in a mini-budget this Friday. This has led to concern from within the conveyancing sector – which is already stretched to its limit – that an uptick in demand […]
Who is Simon Clarke, the man now in charge of housing?
Liz Truss has named Simon Clarke, the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, as her new Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). He is currently the youngest member of Truss’s Cabinet. Clarke, who is 37, replaces Greg Clark, and becomes the sixth person to fill the role since 2018. Clarke previously […]
How can conveyancers prepare for a downturn in the market?
It is ill-founded to suggest that the market is on the precipice of catastrophe: the latest Land Registry data shows house prices are still on the rise, with transactions also soaring in July. Significantly, the Bank of England also revealed last week that mortgage approvals climbed in July – an indicator that future borrowing is […]
Mortgage approvals climb in July
Mortgage approvals increased slightly in July, according to data released by the Bank of England on Tuesday. This is the latest showing of the housing market’s resilience amidst the turbulent economic environment. July 2022 saw 63,770 mortgage approvals, 586 higher than June’s figure of 63,184. This is, of course, 14.4% lower than the 74,494 approvals […]
Under pressure: conveyancers’ caseloads rocket as transactions rebound in July
Conveyancers are “under pressure” as caseloads remain significantly elevated from pre-pandemic levels, with Search Acumen’s latest Conveyancing Market Tracker showing a 34% increase in their workloads. The Tracker also showed that the typical firm registered 76 transactions in Q2 2022, compared with 57 in Q2 2019, an indication of the resilience of the market in […]
Transactions soar in July as housing market remains resilient
New data from HM Land Registry (HMLR) has revealed that residential property transactions climbed once again in July, bouncing back from the dips seen in June. HMLR say the provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in July 2022 is 110,970, 32.9% higher than July 2021 and 7.2% higher than June 2022. This rise […]
Conveyancing struggles – the humanity behind the numbers
There’s no doubt that the last few years have been challenging for conveyancing firms. In truth, they have been challenging for us all, between a global pandemic, lockdowns and now a dramatic increase in the cost of living. The recent Conveyancing Market Tracker from Search Acumen, a property data and insight provider, suggests that it’s […]
House prices rise 1% in June as market stands firm
UK house prices increased by 1% in the period May to June 2022, according to the latest non-seasonally adjusted House Price Index (HPI) from HM Land Registry (HMLR). While this is an indication that the market continues to stand firm amidst an economic backdrop of rampant inflation and uncertainty, it is a stark from the […]
Transactions slow in June as cost of living sets in
Monthly transaction figures for June published by HM Land Registry (HMLR) on Thursday revealed a drop in transactions month-on-month as the cost of living begins to tighten its vice on homebuyers. The provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in June 2022 is 96,290, 3.1% lower than May 2022. This is also 55.1% lower […]
Over 100,000 transactions completed using digitised register for local land charges
Over 100,000 property transactions have now completed using digitised register for local land charges as Northern regions set the pace. More than 100,000 property transactions have now benefitted from access to digitised digested local land charges data to make the property buying process simpler, faster and cheaper, according to analysis by Search Acumen, the property […]
“Party’s not over yet” as transactions bounce back in May
Monthly transaction figures published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on Tuesday revealed that the number of UK residential property transactions in May was 2.0% lower than May 2021, though had risen 1.6% from April 2022. The provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of sales in May 2022 is 100,870, rising from 97,970 in April but beneath […]
Data shows “busiest financial year on record” for conveyancers
Busiest financial year on record for conveyancers as transactions increase 60% for the average firm A 60% annual rise in property transaction activity saw the average conveyancing firm clock up its busiest financial year on record in 2021/2022, according to the Q1 2021 edition of the Conveyancing Market Tracker from property data and insight provider […]
UK HPI: prices pause in March
Latest ONS figures show that the average house price remained at a record high of £278,000 in March, up £24,000 in a year. Average house prices were up 9.8% in the year, down from 11.3% in February, and show a reduction since peaking at 13.3% in June last year. Detached house prices were up 13.7%, […]
Enquiries: the evidence is clear
Complaints surrounding enquiries have been en vogue of late. LinkedIn has been awash with the rants of exasperated conveyancers having received a number of enquiries nearing three figures. Forums have been riddled with denunciation. Regular contributors to Today’s Conveyancer have joined the discourse. All this, it seems, is with good reason. Over the past week, […]
UK HPI: prices continue to climb
HM Land Registry’s monthly price index for February reveals average house prices have increased 0.5% since January 2022. Annually an increase of 10.9% has been tracked, valuing the average property in the UK at £276,755. In England, February data shows that on average, house prices have risen by 0.9% since January 2022. The annual price […]
ONS reveals £24000 annual house price increase
The latest house price data published by HM Land Registry (HMLR) for January 2022 shows that average house prices in the UK increased by 9.6% in the year to January 2022, down from 10% in December 2021. The average property in the UK was valued at £273,762 in January. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices […]
Q4 sees transactions soar to over 300,000
The conveyancing market across England and Wales registered a record 306,237 completed transactions between October and December last year, data from Search Acumen shows. The final quarter of 2021 was the busiest on record for completed transactions logged with HM Land Registry, with over 100,000 transactions wrapped up in both November and December – another […]
Transaction data reveals January slump
HMRC monthly transaction data reveals a dip in residential property sales for January. Non-seasonally adjusted property sales were 85,520 in January – down 22.2% from December, and down 12.6% from a year earlier. Although figures have dipped, experts say this is reflective of a typical January before the pandemic hit. Non-residential transactions reduced to 9,070; […]
Residential property transactions exceed 1 million for first time in a decade
HMRC’s December residential transaction figures indicate a steadying market as the annual number of sales exceeds 1 million for the first time in a decade. Figures show that the provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate for December 2021 sales transactions is 113,470, 14.6% lower than December 2020 and 11.8% higher than November 2021. Although sale volumes for December […]
CLC roundtable reveals how the pandemic impacted property tech
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC)’s recently published findings from a roundtable discussion highlights how the pandemic forced conveyancing firms to put property tech at the top of their agenda. Participants to the discussion suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated conveyancers’ adoption of technology by five years and led to an increase in fees […]