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Conveyancing volumes at highest since financial crisis

Industry did well during 2016 despite a 'testing year' says Search Acumen

Nigel Lewiis

Last year conveyancing volumes hit their highest point since the financial crash of 2007/8, an industry market tracker has revealed.

Search Acumen, which uses Land Registry data to examine competitive pressures among conveyancers, says the number of properties sold exceeded a million during 2016, up from a low point of 650,000 in 2009, although the market has yet to regain its pre-crash highs of 1.3 million.

The number of conveyancing firms is also increasing, says Search Acumen’s Conveyancing Tracker, rising by 4% to 5,357 firms, breaking a five-year long run of decline. Since 2007 approximately a quarter of conveyancing firms have exited the industry, the Search Acumen data shows.

“The number of firms operating in the market might have decreased [but] conveyancers are becoming more productive and are adapting to the challenges in the market to meet the increasing demand for property,” says Mark Riddick, chairman of Search Acumen (pictured).

Riddick says the industry’s improved performance came despite a “testing year for the conveyancer” that has included changes to Stamp Duty, the EU referendum and, before that in 2014, the Mortgage Market Review.

“The sector very much adopted a ‘business as usual’ attitude, disallowing the multitue of obstacles from the ongoing Brexit saga,” he says.

Riddick also says that 2017 could also be a roller-coaster. “As we look to the next twelve months, we can by no means predict which path the UK economy will take,” he says. “Conveyancers must expect the unexpected.”

February 22, 2017

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