The Intermediary – April 2025 - Flipbook - Page 78
T E C H N O L O GY
Opinion
he UK mortgage and
residential property
market is oen accused
of being behind the
curve when it comes to
digitalisation.
In some parts it is. Yet, there
are good reasons for keeping some
elements of the house purchase
process analogue. The key to good
business decisions is knowledge, and
that comes in various formats, all of
which have their own value.
A report from the Home Builders
Federation (HBF) shows that the
UK has among the oldest housing
in Europe, in part a consequence of
historically low levels of new house
building. On average, homes are likely
to be less energy efficient, less resilient
to extreme weather conditions, and
generally in a poorer state of repair
than newer homes.
The UK has the highest proportion
in Europe of housing built before 1946,
at 38%. This is more than double the
EU average of 18%, and higher than
France (29%), Germany (24%), Italy
(21%) and the Netherlands (19%).
Looking at more recently built
homes, the UK still has many older
houses than its EU neighbours. A
majority (78%) of homes in the UK
were built before 1980, compared
with an EU average of 66%. One in
five houses in the UK (21%) were
built prior to 1919, the second highest
proportion in Europe. Only Belgium
has more.
According to Historic England,
there are more than 370,000 entries
for listed buildings on the National
Heritage List for England, making
refurbishment and upkeep tricky in
the face of strict preservation rules.
The UK’s net zero targets and its
housing stock’s readiness to meet
them is just one challenge for lenders
considering where and how much to
lend. Broader environmental risks
exist and are increasing in ways that
T
78
The Intermediary | April 2025
are not always predictable. Flood risk,
coastal erosion and subsidence are
all significant factors in a property’s
valuation and mortgageability.
Risk and value
The legal title regime in the UK also
presents a scale of risk for lenders,
with factors such as onerous leasehold
terms, cladding and fire safety a
reasonably recent but significant
factor in determining a home’s value.
Accurately assessing valuation
risk in new housing developments
has long required considerable
care and analysis – both in terms
of an individual unit’s value, and
also in terms of the cause and effect
influences at play in the locale.
In answer to the hugely varied
demands of assessing UK homes’
values, the modern surveying
and valuation firm now provides
alternative methods of assessment.
The gold standard remains the
professional surveyor’s physical
STEVE GOODALL
is managing director at e.surv
valuation, but property data and
technology have advanced to the point
where digital valuation and property
risk assessments are now real-life
solutions. Firms like ours embed
digital valuation methodologies in
addition to surveyor-led physical
valuations and combine these to
deliver a comprehensive suite of
