VITAL LEGAL CHANGES ARE NEEDED TO SPEED UP PROPERTY SALES
The UK house sales process is notoriously slow. According to data from Rightmove, the average completion time was 150 days in the first half of 2022, whilst in 2019, the time to completion was two-thirds less, at around 100 days.
For buyers and sellers alike, having to wait the best part of half a year for their money, or keys, can seem like an eternity. However, despite these delays, the time it takes to find a buyer is speeding up. During November 2022, half of all properties listed took only 29 days to sell, according to recent research from TwentyEA. Pre-lockdown, it took on average 109 days to find a buyer, and a further 53 days for the property to go from under offer to complete.
Fall through rates are on the rise too, with one in three property sales in England and Wales falling through in the second quarter of 2022. A survey of fall through rates by Quick Move Now has found 50% of failed sales in 2022 were due to the buyer changing their mind, or after an unfavourable survey. While another 30% of failed sales was due to difficulty getting a mortgage.
When we look back at previous years’ data, it looks like things are getting worse. The YouGov study of House Selling Pain Points back in 2018 found that at that time, just one in five transactions failed to go through to completion.
According to Philip Farrell, CCO & Co-Founder of Offr, changes are needed to speed up property deals, make them more secure and give buyers greater protection. He commented: “With the current cost of living crisis, rising interest rates and record high house prices, it is easy to see why in 2023 property buyers might be more nervous about the process.
“Given that buying a property is a lengthy and expensive, why can’t sellers be forced to provide a contract of sale from the outset, similar to property auctions? Contracts are prepared before an auction to be inspected and viewed by interested parties. This demonstrates that the buying process can be front-loaded to minimise stress and allow a contract to be prepared sooner and make the process more transparent.
“It might amount to front-loaded costs for sellers but ultimately it could reduce their overall costs, streamline the process and make it more bearable for everyone. The winners in this are the buyers, sellers and agents. This would fundamentally change how property sales have been managed in the UK. Direction would need to come from the government to assist with the relevant changes.
“Properties should only come onto the market when contracts are available and other issues such as taxation and probate are dealt with. Prioritising such legal changes would speed up the lengthy sales process, take the stress out of an incredibly difficult process and should also help to reduce costs.
“I am yet to meet someone who bought or sold a property and said, ‘I really enjoyed that, it was a great experience.’ For most people, it is the biggest financial purchase and decision that they will make in their lifetime, but the process is more than 200 years old and has not changed. It is outdated and lengthy.”
Offr is helping agents deliver a better service to vendors and buyers by speeding up property transactions through digitising over 85% of the process. Up until now, property transactions have largely been restricted and totally paper-based, with no easy, fast, and secure way of buying properties cross-border available.
Offr’s platform allows buyers to securely submit qualified offers at the click of a button, anytime, anywhere and close deals on real estate agents’ own websites. Agents are kept up to date in real-time, track the progress of a sale or lease on their mobile device or laptop, in real-time, with instant alerts when an offer is received, if there is an upcoming viewing, or if legal documents have been updated.
Offr has two offices in London and Dublin. All the technology has been designed and developed in-house, with no outsourcing. Offr works for all transaction types including Private Treaty, Auction, Tender, New Homes, Commercial Sales, Residential Lettings and Commercial Leases.
Offr has commercial partnerships with DocuSign; Ooba, the largest mortgage provider in South Africa; Onate, an alternative mortgage provider in Ireland; and Thirdfort, a fast-scaling provider of Identity as a Service, and Anti-Money Laundering checks in the UK.
Customers include well known international estate agency brands such as Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield, Savills, as well as Irish firms including Lisney, Sherry FitzGerald, CBRE, and Quillsen, alongside a myriad of independent firms.
For further information please visit offr.io or email info@offr.io.
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