Why collaboration and connected data are key to faster property transactions

By Lee Riche, Commercial Director at Optimus 

Buying a home should be exciting. It is often the beginning of a new chapter that home movers are raring to start. But for many customers, the transaction process and journey into their new home can quickly become slow, complicated, and repetitive.  

These days transactions are often fragmented. Information is requested multiple times. Different parties work from different systems. Updates are not always joined up. And as these fragments increase delays, confidence can start to fall.  This is why the property market needs to stop focusing on demand to begin to take back control and improve the transaction itself by reducing friction, improving certainty, and helping more cases reach completion.  

At Optimus, we see this challenge from across the chain. As a conveyancing and survey panel manager, we know just how important it is for brokers, estate agents, conveyancers, lenders and customers to have clearer communication, better visibility and more connected processes.  

I recently joined Landmark Valuation Services’ Managing Director, Graeme Edwards on a Landmark Talks Property podcast episode to talk about this from a lender’s perspective. In this episode we covered: 

• Why the industry no longer has a demand problem, but a completion problem. Looking at how delays, fall-throughs and fragmented processes preventing transactions from completing efficiently.  

• The latest government property market reforms and what proposed sales packs and upfront property condition reports could mean for lenders, surveyors, brokers and consumers.  

• How earlier access to property and transaction data could help deliver faster mortgage decisions, improved certainty and a better customer experience.  

• The growing role of AI in mortgage lending, including automating administrative tasks, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing customer service.  

• Why industry collaboration is becoming more important than ever, and how initiatives such as Project 28 are encouraging lenders, brokers, estate agents and conveyancers to work more closely together.  

• The importance of trusted, shareable data, reducing duplication across the homebuying journey and improving transparency for all parties involved.  

• What lenders should be doing now to prepare for future market changes, including embracing new technologies, selecting the right partners and adapting to evolving customer expectations 

These themes seem to crop up in conversations daily, and we have noticed a real shift in the industry with companies ready to take proactive steps to improve the process. Look at Project 28, with over 50 members in under a year. We know change is needed, and now is the time to start making actions.  

If you want to dive into these themes and hear mine and Graeme’s opinions on how the perfect storm is reshaping lender priorities, you can listen to the full podcast here on our Spotify or YouTube.