First roadmap for Open Property launches to transform UK homebuying

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) has completed the first phase of its Open Property Coalition, publishing a landmark 'Roadmap for Open Property' in a bid to transform the UK’s homebuying process. The Roadmap also signals the next phase of the UK’s Smart Data journey beyond Open Banking and Open Finance.

Backed by industry and funded by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), the Roadmap sets out a clear pathway to address the fragmented, paper-based homebuying system where transactions take an average of 22 weeks and around 30% fall through.

Developed through the first Smart Data coalition of its kind beyond financial services - bringing together leaders from financial services, property, technology, government and regulators - the Roadmap demonstrates how Smart Data principles, based on secure, consent-driven and interoperable data sharing, can transform the property transaction lifecycle by reducing delays, improving transparency, and strengthening trust.

The Roadmap shows the move from diagnosis to delivery: It identifies the critical datasets, standards, governance frameworks, and commercial enablers required to create a fully digital, end-to-end homebuying journey.

CFIT says the longer the homebuying process takes, the more likely it is to collapse. The defining challenge for progress is therefore to reduce the time it takes to complete a transaction.

This is the central obstacle in a system that processes around 1.1 million transactions each year, worth nearly £380 billion. Today, less than 1% of the data required to buy a home is fully digitised, meaning information is repeatedly requested, verified, and re-shared across multiple parties - driving delay, duplication, and uncertainty at every stage.

The consequences are significant. Approximately 530,000 transactions fail each year, costing consumers around £560 million in wasted fees and up to £950 million across the wider economy. 

Alongside publication of the Roadmap, CFIT has confirmed private sector funding to build a solution to this challenge. 

This next phase will focus on turning the potential of this coalition into reality through development of prototypes and proofs of concept, live testing of Smart Data solutions across the homebuying journey, impact assessment to evidence real-world benefits, and further policy recommendations to support adoption at scale.

With the next phase of the Coalition now set to commence in the summer, CFIT will continue working with partners across industry and government to test, refine, and scale Smart Data solutions in property - while laying the groundwork for future coalitions in other sectors. 

CFIT CEO, Anna Wallace, said: “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.”

Minister for the Digital Economy, Baroness Lloyd, said: “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.”