Hundreds more home buyers in Australia have had a more seamless purchasing experience after on-time property settlements increased two percentage points to 88.2% for the September 2022 quarter.
The data was revealed in online property exchange network PEXA’s second quarterly On-Time Settlement Report. It shows that both lenders and practitioners successfully collaborated to settle 88.2% of national property sales at their first scheduled settlement date. This compares to Settled First Date (SFD) rates of 86.1% in the previous quarter.
PEXA said the SFD metric was developed to measure the performance of lenders and practitioners involved in settling property sales on their scheduled date. The On-Time Settlement Report was started to influence the optimisation of the settlement experience for all stakeholders involved in a property transaction, most importantly home buyers and sellers.
The September 2022 quarterly report showed that the practitioners (conveyancers and solicitors representing buyers), also performed strongly with 87.5% successfully settling sales on the first scheduled settlement date, up for 85.6%.
The report’s national numbers include NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, and the ACT. During the quarter, more home buyers in Queensland enjoyed the quick property settlements, with lenders in the state recording an average SFD of 90.1%, while practitioners posted an average SFD of 90%.
Victoria came in at a close second, with lenders in the state recording an average 89.3% SFD and practitioners an average 88.1% SFD.
When comparing performance, PEXA grouped lenders into six categories: major banks; major bank subsidiaries; other domestic banks; customer-owned banks; foreign-authorised deposit-taking institution (ADIs) and non-ADIs.
Nationally, foreign ADIs performed strongest, with an average SFD of 91.3%, followed by customer-owned banks on 90.5%. These two lender segments held a leadership position in most states, although combined they made up just 8.5% of the total settlements analysed in the September 2022 quarter.
Major banks performed above the national average by settling 89.2% of properties on the first date. Major bank subsidiaries were slightly lower at 88.6%, with these two segments accounting for
64.5% of total settlements analysed in the September 2022 quarter.
PEXA chief marketing and financial institutions officer Marielle Yeoh (pictured above) said it was pleasing to see the industry adopt the SFD metric and invest in resource and process efficiency changes to enhance their performance in the best interests of Australian home buyers.
“A two percent SFD increase from the previous quarter may not sound significant, but in fact that equates to hundreds more home buyers across the nation experiencing a more seamless experience moving in and out of their properties,” Yeoh said.
“When we factor in that settlement dates are sometimes changed based on the request of a buyer and/or seller, the SFD results seen across the September quarter are truly impressive. PEXA is continuing to work collaboratively with lenders and practitioners to ensure that home buyers and sellers experience the raft of benefits from digital conveyancing, identifying further system and process enhancements to ensure these high SFD levels continue”.
