Digital conveyancing coming to the United Kingdom in 2022

PEXA, operator of the world’s first digital property exchange platform, is on track to launch its first product in the United Kingdom this calendar year.  
  
This exciting milestone will see PEXA release its remortgage platform for UK citizens – and it couldn’t arrive at a better time.   
  
UK Finance recently reported that 74% of borrowers are on fixed rate mortgage products, leaving a sizeable pool of consumers vulnerable to unforeseen interest rate spikes.   
  
The representative body also revealed that the number of homeowners refinancing properties has already reached its highest level in nearly two years as at the end of 2021. With interest rates rising, and the cost-of-living climbing, capacity in the conveyancing system will be tested once more in 2022 as a significant number of consumers seek to remortgage, in order to cut household bills.   
  
Unlike Australia, the UK conveyancing and property completion sector is highly fragmented, with the settlement and lodgement process evolving very little over the last 150 years. The lack of a centralised, coordinated exchange platform has added significant time, risk, stress, costs and uncertainty for UK consumers wishing to buy and sell their home.  
 
PEXA’s UK based team, led by PEXA UK CEO James Bawa, together with industry experts in Australia and global software consultancy, ThoughtWorks, have been working to accelerate the development of what would be the first bespoke international property exchange platform of its kind.   
  
As part of a critical milestone, a group of lenders, making up a significant proportion of the UK remortgage market (including major banks, mid-tier, building societies and neo banks) is currently undertaking product testing as part of critical Bank of England integration. PEXA is also continuing to work closely with HM Land Registry, as well as government departments, regulators and industry peak bodies.  
  
“This is an incredibly exciting time for everyone at PEXA, but also the entire UK home buying and selling industry and UK consumers,” said Mr Bawa.    
  
“We are taking all the ideas, feedback, and knowledge gained from more than a decade of engaging closely with the Australian sector, with the aim to adopt a similar process to smoothly revolutionise a sector in the UK that has not changed since Victorian times,” said Mr Bawa.   
  
The launch of PEXA’s remortgage platform is slated to be followed by plans to deliver a seamless sale and purchase exchange. Keep an eye out for further developments in Property Now in the coming weeks and months.