AI: Most conveyancers now pushing the button
Eight out of 10 conveyancing firms used artificial intelligence (AI) to support fee-earners last year, double the proportion that did so in 2024, new research has found.
However, the average time from instruction to completion rose to 123 days in 2025 – an increase of 18% since 2019.
Landmark Information Group said six out of 10 conveyancing firms had increased their IT budgets for the next 12 months and 46% were “investing in AI solutions to optimise workflows”.
With 78% of firms using AI in the past year, it said: “Tools that summarise deeds, triage work, or support risk identification free up experienced lawyers to focus on complex matters where their expertise is most valuable.”
The biggest “bugbear” faced by conveyancers was slow transaction times, followed closely by chasing people, which took up a “large slice of the day”.
Researchers based the report, An industry aligned: Moving towards certainty [1], on responses from 100 conveyancers, 100 senior estate agents, 40 managers at lenders and 500 consumers who had bought or sold property in the last 18 months.
The rise in the average transaction time to 123 days was an increase of only 2.5% from 2025, but 18% from 2019 and 64% from 2007.
Consumers said the top three factors that would most improve the home-moving experience were better cross-stakeholder communication (47%), better technology to support communication (42%) and clearer explanations of legal checks and searches (36%).
Estate agents were most likely to say that faster transactions would improve profitability (40%), followed by greater certainty (37%). Almost eight of 10 estate agents had implemented AI tools, with 38% investing in AI to automate tasks.
The “number one frustration” for lenders was transaction times, mentioned by four in 10 and replacing regulation in the top position. Almost seven out of 10 expected AI to improve decision-making, with the proportion expecting AI to make “minimal impact” shrinking dramatically from 43% to just 3%.
But the report said AI success correlated with “process clarity and data readiness”. It explained: “Digitisation without re‑engineering merely embeds problems. This underlines the importance of fixing the order, then automating.”
The solution, the report said, was earlier certainty, not more status dashboards. “Start legal work, risk detection, identity, and data curation at listing, then let technology amplify that improved process.”
The idea that ‘client reluctance’ is the barrier to early instruction was no longer supported by the data: 89% of sellers would instruct a conveyancer before listing for a faster sale.
Simon Brown, CEO of Landmark, commented: “The research reinforces a trend we’ve been tracking for some time – property transactions are taking longer because certainty still arrives too late.
“Too much critical legal, identity and risk information only enters the process once a deal is already underway. The result is extended timelines, rising anxiety and an increased risk of derailment for one of the most emotional and expensive purchases people will ever make.
“We’ve now reached an inflection point for the property industry, as our latest findings show that professionals and consumers are united around a shared appetite for greater certainty.
“Political and economic turbulence will always form part of the backdrop, but by mobilising around better-connected, earlier-stage processes, the industry has a real opportunity to deliver transactions that are more resilient, predictable and reliable.”
Meanwhile, in a separate report, digital property exchange PEXA said the current homebuying process “could be potentially 50% more efficient without implementation of major structural reform”.
If the market “were able to operate at the speed of the top 50% of transactions”, the average time to buy a home would be halved.
“Collaborative digital adoption and process enhancement” could also halve average mortgage completion times from 126 days to 59 days.
Researchers recommended “immediate practical steps” to improve the conveyancing process, including encouraging “early instruction of conveyancers (via estate agents) upon property listing” and committing to digital onboarding.
This should cover both digital ID checking and digital source of funds checks, which had demonstrated a time saving of 80-90%.
When it came to “strategic system shifts”, they recommended adopting a “unified digital identity and trust framework”, supporting “regulatory consolidation” for anti-money laundering under the Financial Conduct Authority and improving “upfront data standards”.
PEXA’s report, The future of residential property transactions [2], was based on a year-long pilot carried out in West Yorkshire by its multi-stakeholder future property transaction group, which aims to create “evidence-based models to shape national housing policy and improve consumer outcomes”.
Joe Pepper, UK chief executive of PEXA, said: “Over the coming months, the priority should be to consolidate industry alignment around a small number of practical, high-value actions, particularly early legal instruction, digital onboarding, and consistent consumer messaging.
“These actions can be adopted in the immediate term by many organisations and will help build confidence, generate further data, and demonstrate efficiency and impact at scale.”