Search Acumen
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Latest property news
That’s weird! Superstitious vendors cancel completions on Friday 13th
Research into the number of people who complete their house sales on Friday 13th shows transactions are 38% down on comparable days.
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Latest property news
Demise of the small conveyancer? Report reveals worrying consolidation within industry
The number of conveyancing legal firms handling smaller volumes of transactions has shrunk significantly over the past five years, research reveals.
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Regulation & Law
Conveyancing revolution begins as Warwick is first LA to go digital with Local Land Charges search service
Warwick District Council will be the first in the UK to offer home buyers an online Local Land Charges services in the UK.
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Latest property news
Is the Brexit effect finally over? Conveyancers and lenders report improving property market
Both conveyancers and mortgage lenders say the property market has recovered significantly in recent months, signalling a return to ‘business as usual’ in many areas of the country. This includes the workload of conveyancing solicitors which has risen to its highest for a year, with some firms experiencing an increase of up to 27% over the past three months, says data firm Search Acumen. Its Market Tracker reveals that transactions “bounced back” between July and September compared to the previous three months, when transactions nosedived. Between July and September conveyancing volumes increased from 210,964 to 254,606 or 21% between the two quarters. Search Acumen says the increase in case-load came directly from an improvement in the property market. But although the number of homes being sold has surged ahead recently, Search Acumen says the property market still has some way to go before it returns to complete health; transactions levels are still 6% down year-on-year, it says. “After the noticeable dip in conveyancing activity revealed by the Q2 2017 edition of the Market Tracker, it’s encouraging to see an uptick in activity through the summer period,” says Andrew Lloyd, Managing Director of Search Acumen (pictured, left). “The conveyancing industry has broadly…
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Latest property news
Conveyancing volumes at highest since financial crisis
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…
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Housing Market
Property transactions increase 9.7 per cent
The number of UK residential property transactions rose by 9.7 per cent year-on-year in January, fresh figures from HMRC shows. Last month there were 105,940 residential property transactions, which although on a seasonally adjusted basis dropped 2.8 per cent month-on-month, was notably higher than the same month last year, a sign that while there remains much uncertainty due to existing global economic conditions, the market is now in a much healthier position than in January 2015. “Strong market conditions prompted a solid annual increase in the number of residential transactions this January, despite the typical monthly fall from December as activity from buyers and sellers tapered off after the end of the year,” said Brian Murphy at MAB. Andy Sommerville (left), Director of Search Acumen, like many housing commentators, expects to see transactions rise further before April, as the market braces itself for a “buy-to-let surge” ahead of changes to stamp duty. “The full picture of the Government’s intervention into buy to let is likely to reveal itself at the end of the first quarter,” he said. “While lack of affordability and housing supply remain a key issue, this month-on-month dip should be seen in the wider context of uncertainty…
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Housing Market
Residential property transactions hit 18-month high
The volume of residential property transactions reached an 18 month high last month, the latest figures from HM Revenue and Customs has revealed, with 104,590 transactions recorded in June, up 3.2 per cent compared to the corresponding month in 2014. HMRC’s seasonally adjusted estimate shows that the number of home transactions rose by 4.7 per cent between May and June to 104,590, which was the highest number of UK residential transactions since February 2014 when 109,080 took place.There were also 10,460 non-residential transactions. Reflecting on the fact that the level of transactions reached an 18-month high last month, Andy Sommerville (left), Director of Search Acumen, said that the data suggested that the housing market is “bouncing back” after a shaky start to the year. He commented, “Having announced extra measures this month to improve the planning process and increase housing supply in the long term, the government will be relieved to see signs of renewed life in the property market so soon after the election.” Sommerville believes that positive indicators “such as a 3.2 per cent annual rise in wages” should help to build momentum in the second half of the year. “There is a renewed sense of optimism in…
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Housing Market
House prices stable as transactions dip
The latest house price data from the Land Registry shows that house prices in England and Wales remained stable on a monthly basis, despite figures from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) revealing that there was a drop in transactions. Although prices remained flat overall on a monthly basis, there were parts of England and Wales that saw rises, led by London where the average price of a home appreciated by 0.7 per cent month-on-month. On an annual basis, the Land Registry data revealed that prices rose by an average of 4.6 per cent in the year to May 2015 to £179,696. Again, London led the surge, with prices in the capital increasing by 9.1 per cent year-on-year. “Land Registry data shows that house prices are continuing to march upwards with London and the South East seeing the greatest annual growth,” said Brian Murphy (left), Head of Lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB). “The trend is not deterring homebuyers, as mortgage approvals are also at their highest since the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) was implemented according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). But it does mean that the average borrower is taking out a bigger loan than at any point since…
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