The government has published its response to the Home Buying and Selling Consultation, setting out a series of steps intended to make moving home in England and Wales faster, more certain and easier to understand. The proposals include making more information available at the point a property is listed, improving the accuracy of that information and encouraging the use of digital identity checks. However, the response does not yet deliver a fully end to end digital process for buying a home.
Wright, a long standing observer of the property market, has welcomed the progress but warns that the job is only half done. He argues that the reforms are stopping before the finish line, and that the final mile is where the real transformation will happen. Without completing that last stage, he says, buyers and sellers will still face delays and uncertainty that the consultation promised to remove.
The consultation response accepts that too many property transactions fall through after an offer has been accepted, and that better information earlier in the process could prevent some of that waste. It outlines steps to address those failures. Wright, however, believes the government has not yet tackled the hardest part: joining up the digital systems used by estate agents, conveyancers, lenders and local authorities. That last mile, he argues, is where the promised time savings would actually appear.
Where renting is most common
| District | Post town | Region | Homes owned |
|---|---|---|---|
| LS2 | Leeds | Yorkshire and The Humber | 11.1% |
| SR1 | Sunderland | North East | 11.9% |
| S1 | Sheffield | Yorkshire and The Humber | 13.3% |
| BD1 | Bradford | Yorkshire and The Humber | 13.5% |
| LE1 | Leicester | East Midlands | 14.8% |
| L1 | Liverpool | North West | 15.1% |
| HU1 | Hull | Yorkshire and The Humber | 16.1% |
| NE1 | Newcastle upon Tyne | North East | 16.1% |
| M50 | Salford | North West | 16.9% |
| EC1N | London | London | 17.2% |
What the data shows for the reform debate
Postcodes UK data reveals that the postcode district with the highest share of households renting is LS2, which covers part of central Leeds. In LS2, 11.1 per cent of households rent their home. This is the highest recorded in the dataset. The Postcodes UK database matches census output areas to postcode districts, so the figure reflects the exact boundaries of LS2.
That single statistic matters for the home buying reform debate because it shows that tenure patterns are not evenly spread. A policy that makes it easier to buy a home will have different effects in an area where renting is already more common than in an area where almost everyone owns. If moving home becomes quicker and less expensive, more renters in districts like LS2 may be able to take that step into ownership.
The full table above shows how renting varies across postcode districts, using figures from the 2021 census matched to Postcodes UK boundaries. Policy makers who want to complete the last mile of home buying reform could use this kind of local data to understand where the pressure points are and where faster transactions would deliver the biggest benefits.
The rental data also raises questions about how the benefits of reform are distributed. If transactions become quicker, sellers in high renting districts may find a larger pool of potential buyers, while renters who are saving a deposit could find that faster sales reduce the stress of moving. But these effects will not be uniform, and local data like the LS2 figure can help policy makers and lenders target their support.
The data behind this
The rental figures in this article come from the 2021 census carried out by the Office for National Statistics, matched to postcode districts in the Postcodes UK database. Property transaction and listing information in the table is sourced from HM Land Registry. Postcodes UK has brought these sources together to provide a local view of housing tenure and activity.
In response to reporting by Mortgage Solutions. Analysis and figures by Postcodes UK.