Conveyancers registered the fewest transactions for four years in the second quarter of this year, with the average monthly case load per firm dropping 13% from the first three months of 2017.
Analysis of Land Registry data also suggests that the number of conveyancing firms in the market dropped to the lowest on record – to 4,143 in England and Wales.
Search Acumen said the average monthly caseload per firm dropped from 59 to 51.
The top five firms were largely insulated from the fall in transactions, with the smaller ones hit hardest, averaging 18 cases per firm in the entire quarter.
Andrew Lloyd, managing director of Search Acumen, said: “The dip in conveyancing should come as no surprise to those closely watching the UK property market, but it poses a significant challenge for conveyancing firms that want to survive and grow.
“Last time the market was this quiet, we saw major interventions through Help to Buy to support first-time buyers.
“The fact that second-steppers are now finding life hard suggests there is still much to do to effectively balance the UK housing market.”
This is no surprise to us – we are being approached by LOTS of solicitors looking for jobs because they have either been made redundant or fear that they will do. Of course, this brings out the panel managers with their crocodile smiles and drug-wraps of “lots of cases” offering to panic-stricken lawyers who succumb to their promises of a good life. When the going gets tough … the turkeys vote for Christmas (to mix my metaphor)
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