One in three residential property sales cancels – can technology fix this problem?

Andy Stanton writes on his blog, https://proptech-x.com/, that for some time a large number of property technology companies in the UK and globally have been trying to build the definitive service that prevents the 28% to 31% of property sales from falling through each year. For the enterprise who hits upon the answer a huge financial reward beckons. But despite many millions having been put into development as yet there seems to be no end to the problem.

At present we have companies focusing on ‘upfront information’ the hope being that early clarity regarding all the usual problems that usually become teased out as a property is conveyanced, will staunch buyer’s remorse and keep more transactions in play. Others focus on the need to apply for local authority searches and instructing conveyancers and solicitors to move forward at an earlier stage.

Sticking points in the transfer of title from one party to the other revolve around the need for many stakeholders to interact and communicate, the agent, solicitor, broker, surveyor, lender etc all go about their specific work each time a sale is agreed, and many companies are now focusing on how the communication between all parties can be speeded up using modern technology.

In the past seven-years I have engaged and discussed with and looked at over a hundred different property technology businesses who have been grasping with the complexities of the usual 216 stages that a typical UK sale goes through. Some of them monitor the state of play, others hurry along certain aspects. In my head as we are now in 2024 and there has been a huge explosion around the wonders of Generative AI, as though it is the cure for everything (we shall see), but I do think that it is opening stakeholders eyes to the fact that useful data and digital technology will be the way this thorny and nebulous problem is solved.

With a cumulative housing market fee pot of around ￡8BN a year, the company that could reduce fall throughs by 10% as a repeatable and proven Saas model, would be able to command a huge amount of ARR, giving them a market capatalisation that touches the sky. Better still there with fewer aborted sales and more people would be able to move each year, with a far greater sense of certainty on the day they list their most expensive asset.

If you would like a proven way to reduce your fall throughs by 30% have a chat with us at 4Corners Property Ltd , securing your pipeline is key, but getting paid sooner is critical.