The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) has said that an autumn rise in property transactions should be matched by changes to the system that sits behind home moving. It made the comments on 30 October in response to property transactions data published that morning.
Maria Harris, Chair of the Open Property Data Association, described the improvement as positive for home movers and those working in the sector. She also noted that activity had not returned to the level seen a year earlier.
01An encouraging sign, with a caveat
“The autumn upturn in property transactions is an encouraging sign for home movers and the wider property industry, despite numbers remaining down from this time last year,” said Maria Harris.
The association did not set out transaction figures in its statement. It focused instead on what the upturn could mean for the process of buying and selling homes. Its central argument was that higher activity alone would not be enough if the underlying processes stayed as they are.
“Yet, we risk not making the most of this improvement if the system behind the numbers doesn’t change,” she said.
Readers following wider market conditions can find more in our earlier report on buyer demand and the easing housing market downturn.
02Budget funding for first homes
Ms Harris also pointed to the Budget, which the association said had taken place the day before the transactions data was released. She said it showed that “housing reform is still firmly on the agenda”, citing the confirmation of £4.7bn of funding for the Your First Home scheme.
She said: “This is the perfect opportunity for the industry to rally around smart data and get involved in shaping trusted data standards, otherwise many of those first homes might get stuck in limbo.”
03The case for shared data standards
The OPDA’s position is that the funding announcement gives the property industry a reason to work together on data. In its statement, the association called on the industry to rally around smart data and to take part in shaping trusted data standards.
The warning attached to that call was direct. Without such work, the association suggested, many of the first homes linked to the Your First Home scheme could be held up. By saying first homes “might get stuck in limbo”, Ms Harris presented data standards as a practical issue for transactions rather than a purely technical one.
For home movers, the association’s comments connect two developments from late October: an autumn upturn in transactions, with numbers still below the previous year, and Budget funding aimed at first homes. Its message is that making the most of both depends on changing the system behind the numbers.
Details and image via Open Property Data Association.
