The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) has launched an industry-wide coalition to accelerate the digitisation of the home buying process.

The Open Property Coalition will be backed by the smart data team at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and bring together a range of public and private-sector organisations.

These include the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), HM Land Registry, the Open Property Data Association (OPDA), real estate companies, financial institutions, regulators, conveyancers and proptechs.

The CFIT-led coalition will look at features and impacts of a new open property technology solution such as a reliable estimated completion timeline for buyers and sellers.

In addition, it will look at a unique digital identifier of every property and an up-to-date record of its attributes, improved mortgage underwriting, informed by the risk profile of the property as well as the buyer, faster proof of source of funds – and an end to the ‘mortgage in principle’ and a faster and more secure disbursement of funds.

Its work will build on existing research, industry pilots and stakeholder initiatives and explore how emerging technologies could help reimagine the process in the future.

Outputs will include a roadmap for delivering a smart data scheme for the homebuying sector and potentially a prototype smart data solution.

CFIT says there’s work already in progress to define the relevant datasets to digitise and standardise formats.

Such progress includes a pilot scheme in partnership with local authorities to digitise and centralise data, first from local land charge searches and then from other sources, as well as a review of data standards and interoperability, both led by MHCLG.

After the launch of the Smart Data Roadmap by DBT last year to identify the priority areas for Smart Data schemes and determine funding needs, work is ongoing to develop common data standards, trust frameworks and interoperability across sectors.

In addition, a data standard and API has been established by OPDA to create a standardised digital property pack that contains the identifying information for every property, with work to explore an associated trust and governance framework currently underway.

And finally, continued streams of digitisation at HM Land Registry, including the expansion of the centralised Local Land Charges Register, integration with digital ID systems and collaboration with proptech providers to ensure alignment on data standards and interoperability.

CFIT director of coalitions and research Leon Ifayemi says: “This is CFIT’s first cross-sector Coalition, spanning financial services and property – but it’s also the exact kind of thorny, interdependent problem that we exist to solve.”

“Many of us have personally experienced how buying a home in England or Wales can be slow, opaque, costly and aggravating. Work is already underway from DBT, MHCLG, HM Land Registry and the OPDA to digitise elements of the process.”

“But if we are going to successfully use technology to solve these pain points, we need policymakers, regulators and industry all to be pulling in the exact same direction. Tackling Open Property also means we can draw on our accumulated experience in areas like Open Finance and Digital ID.”

Digital economy minister Liz Lloyd, states: “Better use of smart data is integral to our future prosperity to help grow the economy. Buying a home can be time-consuming, lengthy and stressful. Using smart data has the potential to make this quicker, more secure and more transparent for consumers when they are making the biggest, most important purchases of their lives.”

Meanwhile HM Land Registry deputy director Terry Robertson adds: “Digitising the home buying and selling process will bring huge benefits to everyone involved in the property sector. This transformation depends on collaboration.”

“This is why HM Land Registry supports the CFIT-led Open Property Coalition, as well as other initiatives like the Digital Property Market Steering Group. Both are prime examples of bringing stakeholders together to address shared challenges across the transaction journey.”

Currently, the average transaction taking 22 weeks to complete and 30% of transactions falling through.

The OPDA estimates that less than 1% of the data required to buy a home is available in digital format.

A recent Santander report revealed that 530,000 housing transactions fall through in England and Wales every year costing the economy £950 million.