Confidence in the property market has fallen sharply among buyers, sellers and the professionals who serve them, according to the latest data from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. The organisation’s Confidence Tracker found that just 21% of buyers now feel confident about the current market, down from 36% earlier this year.
Seller confidence fared even worse, dropping from 24% to 15%.
The decline isn’t limited to consumers. Among property professionals, confidence in market stability fell from 54% to 45%. Only 17% of the 87 respondents believed the speed and efficiency of the conveyancing process was actually improving.
The average transaction still takes between three and four months to complete. That figure has barely shifted in years, despite repeated promises of reform and a succession of digital tools marketed as game-changers.
The government’s proposed solution centres on introducing legally binding agreements earlier in the transaction process. Under the plans, which follow two public consultations, buyers and sellers would commit to the deal at an earlier stage, supported by upfront information packs containing key property details.
The logic is simple enough. If both parties are legally committed sooner, fewer transactions should collapse before exchange. The government says the reforms will “enable buyers and sellers to make more informed decisions and improve certainty as transactions progress.”
Stephen Ward, head of strategy at the CLC, called it “a significant and exciting step forward,” adding that the changes would benefit “not just consumers but also everyone involved in home buying and selling.”
England and Wales remain outliers in allowing either party to withdraw from a property transaction at any point before exchange of contracts, sometimes weeks or months into the process. Scotland’s system, where offers become legally binding on acceptance, sees significantly fewer failed transactions.
The fall-through rate in England and Wales has been estimated at roughly one in three transactions. Each collapse costs the parties involved an average of several thousand pounds in wasted survey, legal, and mortgage fees. For sellers in Norfolk and Suffolk, where chains can involve multiple linked properties, a single collapsed deal can bring down an entire sequence.
Ward said he “firmly believes we will look back on this moment as a major turning point in transforming a broken system into one in which consumers and professionals alike will have much greater clarity, certainty and confidence.”
One striking finding from the CLC’s survey: 36% of respondents said they had delayed investing in new technology or redesigning their processes while awaiting details of the government’s reforms.
That’s a significant proportion of the profession sitting on its hands. The uncertainty around what the new system will look like has created a pause in modernisation at precisely the moment the sector most needs it.
The CLC is working with Raidiam and the Open Property Data Association on a pilot Smart Data Property Trust Framework, designed to enable secure sharing of verified property information between parties during a transaction. The project is backed by a £750,000 grant from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund.
For homeowners in Norwich, Wymondham, or Attleborough preparing to sell, the proposed reforms could eventually reduce one of the market’s most persistent frustrations. Fewer gazumps, fewer last-minute withdrawals, and a clearer timeline from offer to completion.
The confidence data, though, deserves attention. When just 15% of sellers feel confident about the market, it suggests a growing gap between asking prices and what buyers are prepared to pay. The Ivybridge Collection’s property market reports across 324 Norfolk and Suffolk locations can help sellers understand exactly where their property sits relative to current demand and pricing trends.
The critical missing detail is when these changes will actually take effect. The government has consulted, the CLC has endorsed, and a pilot data-sharing framework is underway. But there’s no published implementation date, no draft legislation, and no clarity on whether legally binding offers will require new primary legislation or can be introduced through secondary measures.
Previous attempts at conveyancing reform have stalled at precisely this stage. Good intentions and consultation papers have a habit of gathering dust while the industry carries on with its familiar, frustrating processes. The 36% of firms delaying technology investment suggests that parts of the profession don’t yet believe these reforms will materialise in their current form.
The CLC has also joined the government’s new AI Growth Lab, which will allow lawtech companies and conveyancing firms to test AI products in a controlled environment. It’s a sensible step, but one that’s likely years from producing tangible benefits for buyers and sellers navigating the system today.
For now, the message from the data is clear: the market’s participants are less confident than they were six months ago, and the system through which they transact remains largely unchanged. Reform is backed in principle. Delivery is another matter entirely.
