Cormac Henderson, Executive Chairman, Spring

The next phase of property technology will not simply make existing processes faster. It will improve the quality of the financial decisions made within them.

At this year’s PropTech Connect conference, I was struck by how little attention was paid to residential transactions, a trend I have noticed across the wider property conference circuit. Given that residential property is one of the UK’s largest asset classes, its relative absence feels surprising.

One explanation may be that residential transactions are still viewed primarily as consumer activity, undertaken by individuals rather than institutions. Yet collectively, residential property is fundamental to the UK economy. Net property accounts for around 40% of total household wealth in Great Britain, more than any other individual component, so valuation accuracy, market liquidity and transaction efficiency directly affect the financial security of millions of people.

Housing is also central to household wealth internationally, although UK households have substantially more of their wealth tied to property than, for example, those in the United States. The sector therefore needs to become more sophisticated in measuring value, risk, liquidity and future performance, not only to attract institutional capital, but also to deliver better outcomes for individuals whose homes often represent their largest financial asset.

The economics of uncertainty

Having spent 25 years as a company founder, residential property trader and investor, I have watched the market become increasingly digitised in the name of efficiency. Listings, customer records, valuations and transactions now sit within sophisticated technology platforms. Yet many high-value decisions continue to be made using fragmented information.

This creates what I describe as the economics of uncertainty. A housebuilder may accept a reservation without knowing whether the customer’s existing property is realistically priced or likely to sell. A lender may assess its security without fully understanding how readily that security could be realised. An investor may acquire a portfolio using historical comparables without sufficient insight into future disposal performance.

The consequences are material. Transactions fail, sales are delayed, forecasts become less reliable and capital remains tied up for longer than expected. Businesses respond by adding processes and controls, increasing costs without necessarily addressing the underlying cause.

What Residential Intelligence means

Technology can change this, but only if it improves judgement rather than simply automating administration. At Spring, we call this Residential Intelligence: bringing together valuation, liquidity, transaction, market and risk intelligence to provide a clearer view of what is likely to happen next.

Consider a national housebuilder offering Part Exchange. A customer reserves a new home and offers their existing property in exchange. A traditional valuation may suggest that the property is worth 300,000 GBP, but that figure alone does not tell the housebuilder whether it is likely to sell within the required timeframe.

If the property takes six months to sell rather than six weeks, the consequences extend well beyond the eventual sale price. Completion may be delayed, forecasts become less dependable, working capital remains tied up and further investment may be postponed. In this situation, understanding liquidity from the outset can be as important as establishing theoretical market value.

Accuracy, liquidity and real outcomes

Accuracy remains the foundation. An inaccurate assessment can distort pricing, sales velocity, lending risk, customer expectations and capital allocation. Having traded more than 1.5bn GBP of UK residential property, Spring has been able to test its assessments against actual outcomes. Our internal analysis indicates that, across the transactions examined, Spring’s assessments were on average around 4% more accurate than the original RICS valuations.

However, two properties with the same theoretical value may still present very different investment risks. One may sell within weeks, while the other remains unsold for months, accumulating costs and eroding returns. An attractive yield becomes less compelling if the eventual exit is slow, expensive or unpredictable.

Investors therefore need to understand not only what an asset is worth today, but how readily it can be sold tomorrow, how long an exit is likely to take and what factors could affect the achievable price.

Making UK property more investable

This matters because capital is mobile. UK residential property competes with other asset classes and international markets for investment. Taxation, regulation, interest rates and economic policy will always influence decisions, but limited transparency around value, risk and the route to exit can amplify their impact. Capital is more likely to be committed where potential outcomes can be assessed with confidence.

Property technology and better data can help make UK residential property more investable. Residential Intelligence can combine valuation accuracy with evidence about demand, sales velocity, local market conditions and likely disposal outcomes. By making true value, liquidity and risk easier to understand, it can reduce uncertainty for housebuilders, lenders and investors.

Spring’s advantage comes from proprietary trading data accumulated through almost two decades of market participation. Every valuation, acquisition, resale, Managed Sale and Part Exchange transaction provides evidence about the relationship between price, condition, location, customer behaviour, liquidity and eventual outcome.

The property industry cannot control interest rates or government policy, and better intelligence will not create liquidity on its own. It can, however, help assets to be priced correctly, risks to be identified earlier and capital to move with greater confidence.

The next phase of property technology is therefore not simply about digitising yesterday’s processes. It is about helping markets function more efficiently by reducing uncertainty and making future outcomes more predictable. The businesses that succeed will give investors greater confidence in how capital can be deployed, recovered and redeployed. In a competitive global market, better intelligence is not just a technological advantage. It is an economic imperative.

About the author: Cormac Henderson is Executive Chairman of Spring, a national home buying company. He has spent 25 years as a company founder, residential property trader and investor. Spring has traded more than £1.5bn of UK residential property across almost two decades of market participation, and its services include Part Exchange and Managed Sale transactions.