UK Open Property roadmap aims to speed up homebuying
Tue, 19th May 2026 (Today)
The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology has published an Open Property Roadmap for the UK homebuying market, backed by the Department for Business and Trade.
The Roadmap sets out a model for sharing verified property data across lenders, conveyancers, estate agents, surveyors, search providers and public bodies to reduce delays and failed transactions. It is intended to move homebuying away from fragmented, paper-based processes and marks the first major Smart Data initiative beyond financial services.
Property transactions in the UK take an average of 22 weeks, while about 30% collapse before completion, according to figures cited by CFIT. Those failed deals cost consumers around £560 million in wasted fees and up to £950 million across the wider economy.
The market handles about 1.1 million transactions a year, worth nearly £380 billion, yet less than 1% of the data needed to buy a home is fully digitised. As a result, information is repeatedly requested, checked and shared between multiple parties during a sale.
Next phase
Alongside the publication of the Roadmap, CFIT has secured private-sector funding for the next stage of the project. That phase will focus on prototypes, proof-of-concept work, live testing across the homebuying process, impact assessment and further policy recommendations.
The work stems from CFIT's Open Property coalition, formed to examine how Smart Data could be applied to home buying and selling. Participants include lenders, conveyancing firms, estate agency groups, property technology businesses, data providers, surveyors and HM Land Registry.
"The UK's homebuying process is too slow, fragmented and stressful for consumers, with transactions taking months to complete and too many collapsing before completion. This Roadmap shows there is a clear and credible pathway to progress through smarter, more secure and interoperable use of data. This milestone also demonstrates the power of CFIT's coalition model to tackle systemic challenges that no single organisation can solve alone - bringing together industry, government and regulators to align around practical, deliverable solutions," said Anna Wallace, Chief Executive of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology.
The Department for Business and Trade commissioned CFIT to convene the coalition and develop a strategic roadmap for an Open Property Smart Data scheme, with home buying as the main use case. The department's wider Smart Data strategy aims to extend data-sharing models beyond open banking into other parts of the economy.
Broader model
Officials and industry participants are also treating the property project as a test of whether Smart Data can be applied in other sectors with complex chains of participants and regulated data flows. Areas identified for possible future application include energy, transport and health.
The Roadmap identifies the datasets, standards, governance structures and commercial conditions needed for a fully digital property transaction. The aim is to make verified information available earlier in the process so buyers, sellers and professionals can make decisions sooner and with less duplication.
The work is taking place alongside broader government efforts to reform home buying and selling. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is expected to set out its own plans for the sector, while HM Land Registry is working with local authorities on pilots to improve access to key property data.
Baroness Lloyd, Minister for the Digital Economy, linked the initiative to the government's wider digital economy agenda.
"Today's Open Property Roadmap marks an important step in delivering this government's ambition for a world-leading Smart Data economy. By bringing together industry, regulators and policymakers, CFIT has demonstrated how we can tackle complex, real-world challenges through collaboration and innovation. This work is not just about improving the homebuying process - it is about building the foundations of a modern, data-enabled economy. The coalition model pioneered by CFIT provides practical insights that can inform the government's implementation of the UK's Smart Data Strategy, demonstrating how policy ambition can be tested and progressed in real-world sectors," said Lloyd.
The rationale for focusing on property is both economic and administrative. CFIT cited analysis indicating that a Smart Data approach to home buying could generate about £14.1 billion in net social value over 15 years, with home buying identified as the highest-value Smart Data use case across sectors.
Open Property is designed primarily for house purchases, but the same structure could later be used for remortgaging, maintenance, and resale. For now, the immediate task is to test whether verified digital property information can cut the time and uncertainty that have long defined the UK's homebuying process.
CFIT estimates that around 530,000 property transactions fail each year.