The conveyancing landscape: trends and industry expert views on the sector

The imposition of the first lockdown brought conveyancing activity to a complete halt, before the first stamp duty holiday led to an enormous surge in business, bringing record profits for firms and the exchequer.

With further stamp duty reforms, rising inflation and interest rates, and an uncertain mortgage market, further changes are afoot.

All this change has presented challenges and opportunities for conveyancers.

In this insight report, we’ve used Land Registry data to analyse the effects of the pandemic on residential house transactions, the macro market environment and conveyancing firms’ performance throughout 2020 and 2021.

Industry experts provide context to the data and give their thoughts on what this might mean for conveyancers both now and in the future, raising key topics to consider in the months and years ahead.

Key findings

• The market is the strongest it’s been in over a decade, with 2021 residential purchase cases exceeding 1 million for the first time since 2007
• This increased demand saw new market entrants as 2021 saw an increase in the number of conveyancing firms, year on year, for the first time in nearly a decade
• Smaller firms face a battle to win new business, with the top 50 firms responsible for more than 21% of all residential purchases
• Even with stamp duty land tax (SDLT) holidays, SDLT receipts in the UK nearly hit a record high last year
• On average, transaction volumes across every region increased by over 26% from 2020 to 2021, showing a strong national conveyancing market
• Many firms may be struggling to keep up with the increased demand, as 2021 AP1 post-completion time increased on average by over 21%, compared to 2020