In her first annual conference address Sarah Harrison, CEO of the BSA, spoke about the need for the sector to “rebuild resilience, support home ownership and restore trust”, stated that “what got us here will not be enough to take us forward”, and went on to claim that “the opportunity is real – and it is ours to seize.” Encouraging words, and a call to action for a sector which celebrated 250 years at last year’s conference.
This year’s conference highlighted a nuanced shift in customer expectations, particularly among younger buyers, which was brought to the fore in a session focused on the future of mortgages.
We heard that while Gen Z and digitally native consumers expect seamless, intuitive journeys, they are not looking for a purely digital experience. Instead, they want:
- Speed and simplicity – enabled by technology
- Transparency and control – through better data and visibility
- Human reassurance – particularly at key decision points
This aligns with what we see as a broader industry view: the future is not about replacing people with technology but combining digital efficiency with trusted human support.
As a speaker in an AI-focussed session noted, success will come not from having the biggest technology budgets, but from using data effectively to build trust and deliver better outcomes.
Innovation in mortgages must start with the process
A key takeaway is that innovation in mortgage products alone will not solve the problem. As we move into an increasingly digital world, current approaches to product design and risk assessment may not be fit for the future. Affordability models may evolve to become more predictive and draw on wider sources of data.
Additionally, greater personalisation and use of real-time data will become prominent.
However, these innovations will only go so far if the underlying transaction process remains slow and disjointed.
Put simply, you cannot fully modernise mortgages without modernising homebuying.
Reducing friction: the biggest opportunity
Beyond building more homes, the conference highlighted a powerful lever for change: making it easier to move.
In the 1980s, people in the UK typically moved home approximately every 9 years, but today this figure stands at over 20 years.
Improving the homebuying experience could unlock:
- Greater mobility across the housing ladder
- Increased availability of suitable homes for first-time buyers
- Reduced reliance on new supply alone
- Economic benefits from consumer spending related to moving home
That would have implications for organisations across the property ecosystem, including mortgage lenders, conveyancers, mortgage brokers, and tech infrastructure providers such as PEXA.
Achieving this means tackling friction across the journey, including:
- Lengthy transaction times
- Manual and paper-based processes
- Poor coordination between stakeholders
- Lack of interoperable data across these stakeholders
- Customer frustration
Encouragingly, there is growing recognition across the industry that addressing these issues could have a meaningful impact on market fluidity.
The role of technology, data and collaboration
Technology was a central theme throughout the conference, particularly the role of AI, data, and open finance in shaping the future of financial services.
For the homebuying process, this translates into:
- Better orchestration of the end-to-end journey
- Smarter use of data to reduce duplication and improve decision-making
- Increased automation to remove delays and manual effort
Greater transparency and digital tracking can make the process feel more manageable and trustworthy. However, discussions at the conference also reinforced that no single organisation can solve this alone. Progress will require collaboration across lenders, tech providers, conveyancers, regulators and infrastructure providers.
Encouragingly, there is positive momentum from policymakers, with a growing recognition of the need for regulation that support innovation while maintaining trust and resilience. This momentum is evidenced through numerous recent developments including the MHCLG consultation on home buying and selling reform, the FCA’s focus on open finance in mortgages, and the prominence of the homebuying process in the recent and upcoming coalition-based work of the Centre for Finance, Innovation & Technology (CFIT).
What this means for the future of homebuying
Looking ahead, the direction of travel is clear and the UK homebuying process is moving towards a model that is:
- Faster – with reduced transaction times
- More transparent – with real-time visibility for all parties
- Better connected – through integrated data and systems
- Customer-centric – designed around the needs of buyers
Achieving this requires a fundamental shift from incremental improvement to systemic transformation, but momentum towards this continues to grow.
Summary thoughts
For PEXA, these themes strongly reinforce the importance of our mission in the UK market. By enabling a more streamlined, digital property completion process, there is an opportunity to:
- Reduce friction across the homebuying journey
- Improve certainty and speed of completion
- Support lenders, conveyancers and brokers with better infrastructure
- Ultimately, deliver a significantly better experience for homebuyers
The future of homebuying in the UK will not be defined by a single innovation or policy change. It will be shaped by how effectively the industry comes together to solve a shared problem.
As the conference discussions highlighted, improving access to homeownership is not just about building more homes, it’s about building a system that works. And increasingly, that system will be digital, connected, and designed around the customer.
Returning to the themes of Sarah Harrison’s speech, PEXA can help the building society sector build resilience, support home ownership and restore trust. The opportunity for reforming the way people in the UK buy and sell homes – with the help of mortgages from building societies – is real. We look forward to working with building societies of all sizes to help them seize it.