The number of active firms in the conveyancing market increased significantly from Q2 2020 to Q3 2020.
Figures from Search Acumen show the figure jumping from 2,411 to 3,751 – a rise of 56 per cent.
At the same time, conveyancing volumes increased from 82,385 to 169,143, which equates to a 105 per cent rise.
On average, each firm saw transaction volumes go up by 32 per cent. Search Acumen reports this has an improvement from 34 to 45 but points out that this is still below the 60 transactions carried out per firm on average seen in the first quarter of this year.
In terms of market share, the top five firms went from calling 8 per cent of the market their own in Q2 to 6 per cent in Q3.
And the top 200 firms saw their share drop from 42 per cent to 39 per cent across the same time frame.
Despite the surface level good news for the sector, Search Acumen director Andy Sommerville warns: “It is no time for the market to drop its defences quite yet. While the government’s stamp duty holiday is helping to propel activity into Q4, it has not relieved conveyancers of the pressures they faced in Q2 but has instead presented a different set of challenges for them to navigate.
“After clearing the initial backlog of transactions, raising the stamp duty threshold has swamped public bodies with search requests, and meant that organisations, including HM Land Registry and local authorities, have struggled to keep up.
“Further, an overreliance on outdated processes has meant that age-old search delays are rearing their ugly head – slowing down the transaction process and threatening to hamper the benefits of the stamp duty scheme. To capitalise on the property tax incentive ahead of the deadline next Spring, transactions must progress as soon as possible as delays rumble on.
“It is time the government acted decisively by tackling recurring delays in the property market through proper investment and an acceleration of its digitisation programme. While this won’t be resolved by 31 March 2021, an industry wide change in mindset is required now – not to mention a new approach to leveraging the available technology to harness the data at our fingertips.”
