South Australia’s property market is moving online, modernising 150 year-old pen and paper conveyancing processes
Buying and selling property is about to get a whole lot easier in South Australia (SA). After 150 years of relying on pen and paper conveyancing processes, the State’s $288 billion property market* is poised to move online.
For the very first time, SA conveyancers, solicitors, banks, credit unions and mutuals can now digitally exchange property from 4 July 2016 with the necessary e-Conveyancing legislation now in place.
Marcus Price, PEXA CEO said e-Conveyancing will bring SA consumers fast, safe and efficient transactions. “People buying and selling homes will increasingly become aware that there’s a better way to exchange property that diminishes delays and other pain points associated with manual settlements,” he said.
“I congratulate and thank Brenton Pike for driving this innovation and reform as SA Registrar-General and, nationally, in his role as Chairman of the Australian Registrars’ National Electronic Conveyancing Council.
“Going digital puts an end to costly cheques and piles of documents. Crucially, conveyancers and solicitors acting on behalf of buyers and sellers can say goodbye to sitting on hold in bank call centre queues and travelling to Grenfell Street to attend settlement.
“Like the ASX did for the exchange of shares, PEXA removes manual processes and paperwork when exchanging property. Land registries, financial institutions and practitioners all transact together, online via a secure platform with funds settling through the Reserve Bank of Australia.
“Industry has an inclusive, collaboration tool that’s bringing the conveyancing and legal profession unprecedented connectivity.
“It’s similar to a LinkedIn or Facebook community. Anyone can join the community and there is no Subscriber fee. The benefit of communicating and innovating with peers becomes immediately available. It’s more than a new technology. It delivers the industry a new form of cohesiveness.
“Importantly, 80 financial institutions have signed up to PEXA. A growing number are now actively transacting. In addition, an increasing number of practitioners are inviting their peers to join the network. More than 2,500 have signed up in the PEXA-ready states. This will increase with SA coming on board.”
For more information about PEXA including how to register, please visit www.pexa.com.au
Read more about one practitioner who completed Australia’s first fully electronic property transaction
*Source: Core Logic RP Data, May 2016.
