tmgroup and mio have shared with us the findings of the new ‘Thriving in a Pandemic’ report which has recently been published. It highlights that the market has not been able to cope with the sheer volume of transactions brought on by the post-lockdown and Stamp Duty holiday surge.
The survey of 600+ property professionals that included estate agents, residential conveyancers, real estate professionals, developers, surveyors and more, revealed that despite creating unprecedented demand for property services, ‘behind the scenes’ there is an inability to handle rapidly increasing work volumes resulting in significant delays and an underwhelming customer experience.
Multiple parties under huge personal pressure to work longer hours
The report findings also highlighted a trend of multiple parties connected within the transaction, particularly residential conveyancers, feeling under huge personal pressure to work longer hours to cover for the inadequate processes and technology in their businesses, as reflected in this comment from a residential conveyancer; “Increased caseload together with search and mortgage delays leading to frustrated clients has had a hugely detrimental effect on conveyancers wellbeing.”
Unsurprisingly, this has raised significant concerns about mental health in the industry, as recently cited in an article from LawCare which claimed; “The number of legal professionals contacting the charity for emotional support continues to rise year on year, with 738 legal professionals seeking help in 2020, a rise of 9% on the previous year.”
The challenges of 2020 have focused the industry on making better use of technology to ease the pressure on their processes and staff
Yet there is positive change afoot, with many property professionals acknowledging the need to review their systems and processes in 2021, as Joe Pepper, CEO at tmgroup commented:
“Looking to the year ahead, the report findings showed a strong focus on better use of technology, including system integration, which could help improve overall business efficiency and ensure that all property professionals are better able to cope with an expected increase of volume again, as the economy returns to normal in the second half of the year – a prediction based on a widely-anticipated COVID-19 and Brexit bounce-back supported by the continued availability of historically cheap lending. It’s interesting to note that these priorities reached across all of the professional groups within the property market, but the demand for better technology and system integrations was especially high up the list for residential conveyancers, with a strong feeling that the industry must demonstrate that it can handle higher volumes more efficiently if it is to thrive in the future.”
Who is mio?
mio is a sales progression platform operated by tmgroup. It offers a shared view of the chain to all parties involved in the transaction. Find out more about mio here.
