UK backs CFIT with £1m to test digital property data

The government has awarded the Centre for Financial Innovation and Technology (CFIT) an additional £1m to fund phase two of its Open Property Coalition. The funding will support discovery, prototyping and piloting of interoperable, data-driven transaction flows for property purchases across the UK.

CFIT, a not-for-profit set up after the 2021 Kalifa review, is bringing together banks, conveyancers, estate agents, technology platforms and regulators to build a minimum viable product (MVP). The MVP aims to demonstrate secure, reusable sharing of property, identity and financial data and to test models for governance, liability and interoperability.

CFIT chief executive Anna Wallace noted the current process is inefficient: buying a house takes about 22 weeks on average and roughly one in three purchases collapse before completion. She said late-stage revelations about properties often cause failed transactions, and the coalition is working to surface key information earlier so lenders and buyers can act sooner.

The coalition has identified common data clusters and attributes used across the buying and selling cycle and will build prototypes to show how those attributes can be reused. Wallace described two priority use cases that have attracted most support: improving loan underwriting and creating a single, shared view of transaction milestones for consumers and professionals.

Pilots will involve participating banks and conveyancers to test whether information can be shared securely and interoperably, and whether the process reduces delay and increases consumer confidence. CFIT will also map trust and governance frameworks so market participants have clarity on responsibilities and liabilities if the approach is scaled.

A concept emerging from the coalition is a Digital Property ID: a dynamic, reusable set of verified information linked to a Unique Property Reference Number. The ID could include ownership and title data, material information, planning history, risk indicators, transaction status and consent records. CFIT describes a related Smart Data Pack that would combine verified property data, digital identity credentials and relevant financial information into a secure, reusable dataset that moves across the transaction chain.

Not all prior efforts to digitise identity in the property sector have continued. An industry initiative to introduce a standard digital ID was recently shelved amid concerns over government policy and limited consumer benefits. CFIT commented that a Digital Property ID still has potential but requires testing through industry and government collaboration.

The government funding runs to March 2027 and is supplemented by additional investment from NatWest and pro bono support from coalition partners in legal and professional services. CFIT operates with a compact team of about 10 staff and a board that oversees public funding and interventions. Wallace, who previously spent a decade at the Financial Conduct Authority and helped establish its regulatory sandbox, said CFIT intends to build prototypes that others can scale rather than to be a permanent market player.

A surveyor involved in the project described the potential changes as “quite scary,” reflecting how established conveyancing practices could be affected by shared data flows. Phase two has begun with discovery and prototype testing scheduled next, followed by implementation pilots. CFIT expects successful pilots to inform industry business cases and the legal and regulatory frameworks needed to deploy smart data tools across the UK property market.