How can the homebuying process be improved?

A new research project launched this month is set to discover what buyers think should be done to improve homebuying in the UK.

The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) has issued a survey through more than 30 of its member firms including Atom bank, Inventory Base, and Kotini to cover thousands of existing and potential homebuyers. The results will form evidence for OPDA’s campaign to transform and digitise the homebuying process. The deadline for responses is 30 September.

OPDA wants to find out not only what homebuyers and sellers feel about the process but how they think it should be improved.  The trade association is particularly interested in how much homebuyers and sellers know about digital property information and how comfortable they would be using and sharing data.

The survey is targeted at customers who have transacted on a property over the past year or two and those who aspire to home ownership. OPDA is aiming to reach as many homebuyers as possible through members who include several of the country’s largest lenders. The research launch comes shortly after NatWest Group and HSBC joined OPDA. Nationwide announced its membership in July and Lloyds Banking Group in March.

Results and analysis will feed into a white paper that OPDA will publish and present to Government and other key stakeholders later this year.

Much of the homebuying process still remains reliant on paper, duplication, multiple signatures, and manual checks, and OPDA says this is a major contributor to the lengthy delays many customers experience when it comes to reaching completion on their home purchase.

OPDA is keen to highlight that its own research shows that people using its data standards for digital property packs have seen time reduced from mortgage offer and purchase accepted to exchange.

Maria Harris, Chair of OPDA, said: “We’ve all heard examples of how bad the torturous and archaic homebuying experience is in this country. But we’re taking our research further by asking consumers not only what they think about the experience, but also how they feel it could be improved and about their attitudes to digital property information. We’d love the industry to share the survey link with their own customers to generate the biggest consumer voice possible.”

OPDA is calling on the government to deliver digitised property data at source, and wants to use the findings from this research to support their argument.