A new technology-driven valuation and insurance model has launched claiming it will help lenders to unlock the £82bn of transactions currently on hold because surveyors cannot carry out physical property inspections during lockdown.

Technology firm WhenFresh and specialist property insurer CLS have developed a solution they are calling “Verify Insured Valuation Model”, which provides automated property valuations that are backed up with an indemnity from a panel of reinsurers.

The indemnity covers lenders against any shortfall between the mortgage balance and the money recovered through repossession in the event of the borrower getting into difficulty.

The companies say their valuation model can be used against 80 per cent of  residential properties in the UK.

WhenFresh and CLS have been testing the model for two years and checking the valuations produced by the technology against actual Land Registry data. The companies claim it has 99.2 per cent accuracy.

This enables CLS to provide insurance against lender losses, which is underwritten initially by Ergo, part of Munich Re. 

WhenFresh co-founder Mark Cunningham says: “We have been working on the Verify IVM solution for two years with a number of key lender partners. 

“To see it launched now is of course very timely and, much like the recent digital evolution in the travel and insurance sectors, the property market needed to advance digitally, with the availability and accuracy of data and technologies that now exist. 

“We are already in advanced talks with several forward-thinking lenders keen to get lending again for the good of those wanting or needing to transact their properties – and for the wider good of the UK’s economic recovery.” 

CLS group director Tom Plews adds: “Working together we will enable lenders to unlock the stalled UK property market, which has slowed from £21bn in transactions in April 2019 to just £3.5bn in April 2020.”