Access Legal's UK Conveyancing Market Reports

Key findings:

• 711,371 transactions completed in FY24/25. Up 5% year on year, but still 17% below FY23 levels. The growth was largely driven by a March 2025 spike ahead of the SDLT deadline. 
• The number of active conveyancing firms fell by 2%. Consolidation continued, with larger firms extending their lead. Firms completing 500 or more transactions grew their volume by 27–37%, while smaller firms saw double-digit declines. 
• Firms active in all regions now account for 57.6% of all transactions. National reach has become a structural advantage, with volume increasingly concentrated at the top of the market. 
• Average AP1 submission times improved slightly to 18.9 days. The gap between firm sizes persists: mid-market practices averaged 17.4 days, while larger firms averaged 24.8 days. 
• Yorkshire and The Humber led regional growth at +15%. Most regions improved on FY24, while the North East and South West declined. House prices were broadly stable nationally, though Greater London fell 6.3% and the North East rose 5.5%. 
• The SRA issued £575,000 in AML fines in just six months. With 700 AML inspections targeted by October 2025 and new LSAG guidance in force from April 2025, compliance pressure on firms intensified significantly across FY24/25. 

Key findings:

• Residential purchase completions exceeded 1 million in 2021 for the first time since 2007. Driven by the government's SDLT holiday and the release of pent-up demand from the first lockdown, the market recorded its strongest year in over a decade. 
• Transaction volumes increased by over 26% on average across every region in England and Wales. The pattern was consistent: almost all the uplift came in the first half of 2021, turbocharged by the SDLT stimulus deadlines in March, June, and September. 
• The number of conveyancing firms increased year on year for the first time in nearly a decade. New firms entered the market to capitalise on the surge in demand, a reversal of the long-running consolidation trend that had seen firm numbers fall consistently since 2013. 
• The top 50 firms were responsible for more than 21% of all residential purchases. In 2020, 75% of all firms completing purchase transactions were doing fewer than 10 cases a year, accounting for just 7.4% of all transactions. By 2021, mid-sized firms in the 51-100 transactions category had grown their market share most notably, jumping from 11% to 18.5%. 
• AP1 post-completion submission times increased by over 21% on average compared to 2020. Firms in the regions that had grown fastest (the South East, East, and Greater London) were struggling to keep pace with demand. The operational backlog created by the volume surge was already visible in the data before the market had peaked. 
• My Home Move held close to 2% of national market share. Taylor Rose (then operating as Taylor Rose MW following its merger with McMillan Williams) was already emerging as a force, holding a combined 4% share in Greater London, the largest of any firm in that region.