PEXA has today published its second quarterly On-Time Settlement Report, with both lenders and practitioners collaborating to deliver higher Settled First Date (SFD) rates than the previous quarter.
The SFD metric was developed to measure the performance of lenders and practitioners involved in settling property sales on their scheduled date, with the On-Time Settlement Report initiated to influence the optimisation of the settlement experience for all stakeholders involved in a property transaction, most importantly home buyers and sellers.
The latest report for the September 2022 quarter revealed Australian lenders were successful in settling 88.2% (up from 86.1%) of national property sales on the first scheduled settlement date via the PEXA Exchange. Practitioners, the conveyancers and solicitors representing buyers, also performed strongly with 87.5% (up from 85.6%) successfully settling sales on the first scheduled settlement date.
The national numbers included within the report refer to the five mainland states, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, together with the Australian Capital Territory. During the quarter, home buyers in Queensland were provided the most surety for their property settlement, with lenders in the state recording an average SFD of 90.1% and practitioners posting an average SFD of 90%. Victoria came in at a close second, with lenders in the state recording an average 89.3% SFD, and practitioners and average 88.1% SFD.
To best compare performance, PEXA has grouped lenders into six categories: major banks; major bank subsidiaries, other domestic banks; customer owned banks; foreign authorised deposit-taking institution (ADIs) and non-ADIs. Nationally, foreign ADIs performed strongest, with an average SFD of
91.3%, followed by customer-owned banks on 90.5%. These two lender segments held a leadership position in most states, although combined they made up just 8.5% of the total settlements analysed in the September 2022 quarter.
Major banks continued to perform above the national average, settling 89.2% of properties on the first date. Major bank subsidiaries were slightly lower at 88.6%. These two segments accounted for
64.5% of total settlements analysed in the September 2022 quarter.
Marielle Yeoh, PEXA’s Chief Marketing and Financial Institutions Officer, said: “It is so pleasing to see the industry adopt the SFD metric and invest in resource and process efficiency changes to enhance their performance in the best interests of Australian home buyers.”
“A two percent SFD increase from the previous quarter may not sound significant, but in fact that equates to hundreds more home buyers across the nation experiencing a more seamless experience moving in and out of their properties. When we factor in that settlement dates are sometimes changed based on the request of a buyer and/or seller, the SFD results seen across the September quarter are truly impressive.”
“PEXA is continuing to work collaboratively with lenders and practitioners to ensure that home buyers and sellers experience the raft of benefits from digital conveyancing, identifying further system and process enhancements to ensure these high SFD levels continue”.
For more information, visit pexa.com.au.
