Conveyancing transactions have plummeted by over a fifth since 2017.
According to Search Acumen’s conveyancing market tracker, the opening three quarters of 2019 completed 23% fewer transactions than in 2017 and a 4% reduction on 2018’s total up to September.
Between January and September, conveyancers worked on 731,799 residential transactions which represented a 12% fall or over 100,000 transactions less than the same period in 2016.
Reduced market activity is causing consolidation and closures in the conveyancing sector. The tracker suggests that firms processing less than 50 transactions per week has shrank by 6% with the number of conveyancing businesses actively working in the sector has fallen to 4,024, its lowest levels since the recovering market in 2011.
Whilst transactions are falling, it seems as though consumers are still looking for traditional conveyancing solutions with a third (34%) of licensed conveyancers instructed by the 562 research respondents.
Conversely, less than a fifth opted to use an online conveyancing facility.
An IRN spokesperson, commented:
“While the market as a whole is volatile, our research suggests that consumer behaviour regarding their conveyancing choices is more stable.
“For example, law firms and solicitors continue to be the preferred choice for advice and experience and relevant qualifications are what a client looks for most in an adviser and this has always been the case – previous surveys have consistently produced the same result.
“A majority would go back and use the same conveyancer again if another house purchase or sale arose and this reflects a generally high client satisfaction with services offered.”
“Online may be the channel for property searches but online conveyancing services have yet to take a significant market share.
“There are mixed messages from the survey regarding online conveyancing services.
“A majority say that they are an important choice factor when looking for a conveyancer but responses to a later question asking about possible improvements to the conveyancing process show only limited interest in these online services.
“Our research results emphasise that law firms and solicitors will continue to deal with the majority of conveyancing advice requests but online conveyancing is likely to increase, either on national sites or sites from individual law firms.”
Andy Sommerville, Director of Search Acumen director, said:
“Every passing quarter of 2019 has brought more political headwinds to the property market due to Brexit related uncertainty. One hundred thousand fewer transactions so far this year compared to 2016 is an indicator of the ‘Brexit effect’ on an already cooling property market.
“It’s been a tough three years for the industry, but that said, a tricky market has made it clear how effectively large conveyancing firms are now able to win and retain business.
“But big firms have a physical limit to how much more market share they can gain. There’s only so many conveyancers they can hire to execute so many transactions in a month. We’re going to soon reach an inflection point where the top firms can’t grow without wholesale changes to how they do business.
“To keep growing, bigger firms need to start to think about combining human and digital insights to a greater extent. They need to assess how many transactions they can currently process and investigate what they could be doing if they invested in better technology.
“Too many firms we speak to see technology as a ‘nice to have’. But it’s more than that now – technology investment is the key to getting ahead in a competitive climate.”
As the top 1,000 conveyancing firms now enjoy a record–breaking market share of 75.6%, is this trend likely to continue?
