It calls for new legislation to digitise the entire process of buying and selling homes
The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) is urging the next UK government to urgently reform the slow homebuying process to ensure market efficiency.
The OPDA advocates for strong leadership from a high-level government department, such as the Treasury or the Cabinet Office, or alternatively, for an independent housing commissioner to oversee the reforms.
Maria Harris (pictured), OPDA chair, noted that currently, no single department or individual within the government has overall responsibility for the homebuying journey. She added that property data is spread across multiple departments, each with its own processes and data access protocols.
Since 2010, there have been 16 different housing ministers, contributing to the lack of continuity in policy, Harris said.
According to OPDA, less than 1% of property data is currently available in a suitable digital format, with the homebuying process remaining largely paper-based, involving duplication, multiple signatures, and manual checks. As a result, it takes an average of 22 weeks for customers to complete a home purchase.
The OPDA is calling for new legislation to digitise the entire homebuying and selling process within three years. The association urges the next government to publish the long-awaited Future of Homebuying strategy, detailing the roadmap for digitising public and local authority data and setting industry expectations for adopting open standards, interoperability, and trust.
Digitising property data and making it accessible to consumers and service providers from the start would be a crucial first step, the trade body said, adding that this would significantly speed up the process and increase transparency for all parties involved.
The OPDA has already introduced its framework for property data standards, providing free and shareable data tools across the industry. It claims that those using its digital property packs have seen the time from offer acceptance to contract exchange reduced to 15 days.
“A well-functioning housing market and a good homebuying experience are fundamental to the financial wellbeing of the nation,” Harris said. “But these cannot be achieved without wholesale reform of the homebuying process, which puts digitisation and shareable data at its centre. The next government must urgently take ownership of homebuying reform.”
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