In what is widely considered by industry experts to be a breakthrough for the UK conveyancing sector, proptech firm PEXA has recently announced the completion of the UK’s first fully digital purchase transaction. David Jabbari, founder and CEO of Muve, said: ‘This achievement underscores the transformative potential of PEXA’s platform to improve the conveyancing process.’ It is therefore useful to explore PEXA’s impact on the UK property market and highlight the importance of a fully digital purchase transaction scheme for consumers and lenders.
What is PEXA?
Founded in 2010, PEXA is an Australian company which established its reputation as a conveyancing platform utilising innovative technology within the digital sector to conduct property transactions. A spokesperson for the company emphasised that the mission of PEXA is ‘helping to streamline the remortgaging and property completion experience from start to finish.’
In 2021, PEXA facilitated over 11 million property transactions worth AU$2t in Australia. A major component of this success came from PEXA reducing the average remortgage transaction time from 42 to 15 days. In some cases, PEXA was able to facilitate a complete transaction in just under 36 working hours.
This success prompted PEXA to enter the UK property market in 2022. ‘The UK’s 150-year-old conveyancing system is on a journey to digitise’, James Bawa, chief executive of PEXA UK, commented. Bawa added: ‘We know that by replacing outdated and manual processes with a simple online exchange platform, we can significantly help boost both market capacity and efficiency and take a lot of stress out of consumers’ lives.’
As of 2025, PEXA reported that it has processed £100m worth of UK remortgage transactions through its platform, and this number is expected to rise significantly with the advent of the first fully digital purchase transaction the company recently achieved in the UK.
What has PEXA Achieved?
PEXA aims to fully launch the service to the wider UK market by the end of the year. The first digital purchase transaction – with Hinckley & Rugby Building Society being the first company to successfully use the PEXA platform for a digital transaction – serves as an important testing ground to assess the quality of the service.
Joe Pepper, the CEO of PEXA UK, said: ‘Our mission has always been to help transform the property market for the benefit of consumers, lenders and conveyancers. Today’s completion of the UK’s first digital purchase transaction is a landmark achievement in this journey. By leveraging our platform and PEXA Pay scheme, we have demonstrated how technology can simplify and expedite what has traditionally been a complex and time-consuming process.’
According to PEXA, the average remortgage transaction time in the UK takes 6 to 8 weeks. Many industry experts are keen to point out how this span of time could be greatly reduced if the conveyancing sector embraces digital technology. One vocal critic of the present shortcomings of the conveyancing sector is Maria Harris, chair of the OPDA, who argued: ‘Consumers are telling us loud and clear: the current homebuying process doesn’t work for them. It’s fragmented, inefficient and opaque.’
Of the over 5,300 homebuyers surveyed in the OPDA’s report, 41% found poor communication the most challenging aspect of the conveyancing process, while 62% reported being asked to supply the same documentation multiple times. For these reasons, 82% of the respondents support the idea of a digital property pack, which would digitally store all necessary data from the start of the conveyancing process.
Phil Spencer, founder of Move iQ & Property Expert, summarised: ‘Digitising the property market isn’t just about bringing an old system into the 21st century – it’s about creating a faster, more transparent and less stressful experience for everyone involved.’
Why are Digital Transactions Important?
PEXA’s breakthrough in successfully carrying out a full digital transaction represents an important moment for the property industry. It’s another step in the general direction taken by the property industry to use digital technology to enhance conveyancing efficiency.
Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook, responding to the growing demand for raising the efficiency of the conveyancing process, outlined a plan for ‘streamlining the cumbersome home buying process so that it is fit for the twenty-first century, helping homebuyers save money, gain time and reduce stress while also cutting the number of house sales that fall through.’
Such a plan involves overhauling the data system. In particular, the HM Land Registry is pledging to fully digitalise the data available for conveyancers. Simon Hayes, chief executive of HM Land Registry, has commented that the department is operating under the precept of ‘no complacency’ in order to realise ‘a modern digital land registry at the heart of a reformed property market.’
By embracing digital technology, it will facilitate the conveyancing process in order to meet the dynamic activity of the UK property market.
