Property industry urged to act now as digital home buying becomes a reality

23 October 2026

The property industry must move beyond talking about digital reform and start preparing for change, the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) has urged, warning that businesses risk being left behind if they wait for Government mandation before adapting their processes.

The call to action came during the closing panel session of OPDA’s third annual general meeting on Tuesday 20 October, where leading industry figures from the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG) discussed progress towards a more connected, data-driven property market and the practical steps being delivered by the strategic steering group to turn the vision into reality.

Hosted by OPDA chair Maria Harris, the panel included fellow DPMSG delivery leads Kate Faulkner OBE, chair of the Home Buying and Selling Council, Beth Rudolf, director of delivery at the Conveyancing Association, Nick Boddington, director of strategic partnerships at HM Land Registry, and Stephen Ward, director of strategy at the Council of Licensed Conveyancers.

The discussion highlighted the progress made in developing a shared vision for digital home buying and securing the legislation and mandation to realise it, but stressed that delivering meaningful change requires active participation from every part of the property industry, from major lenders and technology providers to smaller estate agencies and conveyancing firms.

Maria Harris, chair of OPDA, said:

“We have reached an important point in the journey towards a more digital, connected property market. The Government has set out its direction of travel and roadmap commitments, DPMSG has been established as the delivery vehicle for digitisation, and the industry has already done a huge amount of work to establish the data model, standards, frameworks, and shared methodology needed to make this happen.”

“Organisations cannot afford to sit back and wait for the standards to be mandatory if they want to retain their competitor advantage and customer confidence. Businesses across the property chain need to start preparing now, engaging with the changes, and getting ready for smart data, trust frameworks, and accreditation. This means digitising your data and adopting the voluntary trust and accreditation standards today to make the home buying process better for everyone.”

The panel pointed to changes already taking place across the market, with a growing number of firms adopting Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES), reusable digital identity verification (DVS) and Open Finance data. These developments demonstrate that digital processes are already becoming part of everyday property transactions, rather than being a distant ambition.

Panellists also emphasised that businesses do not need to wait for every element of the Government’s reform programme to be implemented before making progress. Lenders, conveyancers, estate agents and other professionals can begin by reviewing their existing processes, engaging with clients and partners about digital data sharing, and considering how material information can be collected upfront and reused more effectively.

The Government’s Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, published in the summer, has provided a clear direction and timescales for the industry, setting out an ambition to modernise the process and make it quicker, more transparent and less prone to failure. However, the panel acknowledged that businesses are keen to understand how the various workstreams fit together and what the changes mean for them in practice.

The discussion highlighted the importance of providing a clear, joined-up picture of the future home buying journey, including who is responsible for delivering different elements of reform and what businesses need to do today to prepare for smart data and mandation.

Better communication will be essential to ensuring that progress across Government, regulators, trade bodies and industry groups translates into practical guidance for the professionals delivering transactions on the ground.

Maria said:

“We need to make the changes and implementation tools tangible and easy to understand for businesses. The more clearly we can show what a digitised journey looks like, the benefits it delivers, and how different parts of the industry are working together to get there, the easier it will be for firms to understand the role they have to play and to start making progress.”

The panel also stressed that reform must reach businesses of every size. Smaller and independent firms play a significant role in the property market and cannot be left behind as digital processes and trust standards develop. Industry-wide collaboration, practical guidance and effective communication will be vital to ensuring that the benefits of reform are realised across the market.

The message to the industry was clear: digital reform is not about introducing new technology. It is about creating the framework for trusted, consistent and reusable property information that enables professionals to work more efficiently, reduce unnecessary duplication and give consumers greater clarity and confidence throughout the home buying and selling process.

OPDA will continue to lead the delivery of digitisation standards and engagement with industry stakeholders and Government through the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG) delivery group and Smart Data Council to support interoperable smart data standards and to drive adoption of trusted data sharing across the mortgage and property industry.

For more information, visit: https://openpropdata.org.uk/