The UK is set for a ‘smart data’ revolution, a revolution which began with the advent of open banking, and one which now has powerful ambitions to transform the finance, energy and property sectors.
BUT WHAT IS SMART DATA AND WHAT CAN IT DO?
Put simply, smart data lets consumers and small businesses securely access and share selected data with trusted third parties to secure better value and more personalised services. This could be, for example, sharing bank data with mortgage platforms or advisers to access favourable mortgage rates or tailored terms.
Open banking is the UK’s first smart data scheme – now counting 13 million users – and it delivers an array of services such as financial dashboards, money management apps, and affordable lending. Importantly, it provides a blueprint for how data sharing can transform industries. As the Government prepares to enact the Data (Use and Access) Bill, a similar transformation is set to effect change in a wider range of financial services, such as savings, lending and insurance.
The next sector set to benefit from the widespread sharing of data is the UK’s homebuying sector, where astonishingly, less than 1% of data – from mortgage assessments to land registry searches, from identity checks to surveys – is even digitised.
The UK housing market is a major economic engine. This year alone, the value of the first-time buyer economy is set to reach £74.1bn. Yet the process of buying a home remains painfully slow, largely paper-based and fragmented – a sharp contrast to the seamless, data-enabled experience many of us now take for granted in certain financial services.
Recent research by the Open Property Data Association (OPDA), which surveyed more than 5,300 recent homebuyers and sellers, highlights just how urgent transformation has become. Communication breakdowns and repeated document requests are among the most common frustrations – with nearly half of consumers experiencing a three to six-month delay between having their offer accepted and exchanging contracts. In an age of one-click shopping and instant banking, that simply isn’t good enough.
We believe smart data is the key to fixing this. Just as open banking allows consumers to securely share their financial information to unlock better services, open property data could empower buyers to manage and share key information with verified and trusted professionals across the homebuying journey.
DIGITAL PROPERTY PACKS CAN POWER PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS
A digital property pack, containing verified, up-to-date and reusable information about a property, has the potential to accelerate transactions, reduce administrative burdens and restore trust in the system. In fact, 82% of those polled in the OPDA study support the idea, and over three-quarters say they’d use one if available. The appetite is clearly there – now we need the infrastructure and regulation to match.
Adopting the principles that underpin open banking – consumer consent, security, transparency, and a robust trust framework – can bring this vision to life. That means interoperable technology standards, clear roles and responsibilities for stakeholders and government-backed accreditation for trusted platforms.
The benefits go far beyond the individual buyer or seller. The Department for Business and Trade estimates that commercial opportunities created by personal data mobility have the potential to increase UK GDP by £28bn. And with the property sector contributing a significant portion to the economy, driving efficiencies here could generate valuable cost savings for consumers, businesses and public services alike.
The imminent passing of the Data (Use and Access) Bill sends a strong signal from the Government about the importance of building on open banking’s data sharing principles to deliver a smart data economy worth an estimated £10 billion over the next 10 years.
The blueprint is there. Now let’s build on it.
