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Lawyers have been revealed to be at the top of the table when it comes to buying and selling property, with the vast majority of Australian buyers and sellers rating their experience with their solicitor or conveyancer highly.
New research from legal tech firm InfoTrack has revealed that 86 per cent of people who bought and sold property in the last year had a good experience with their solicitor or conveyancer, rating them as excellent or above average.
The 2024 State of Real Estate Report is part of the first ever national survey asking Australians about their experience buying and selling property – and showed that 62 per cent of survey respondents rating their experience with their lawyer or conveyancer as excellent, and a further 24 per cent as above average.
The same research revealed that one-third of respondents experienced challenges with their real estate agent. Of all the parties involved with a property transaction, respondents identified real estate agents as the most challenging. Lenders or financial institutions and the other buyer or seller consecutively followed. In contrast, lawyers and conveyancers led the way in client satisfaction throughout a property transaction.
A third of respondents found communication with a real estate agent to be the most positive aspect of the process, suggesting that buyers and sellers have polarising experiences with agents particularly. This was closely followed by communication with a lawyer or conveyancer and finding a property.
InfoTrack Australia head of property, Lee Bailie, said there was still room for improvement, with the survey offering key insights from the consumer perspective.
“More than a third of respondents (34 per cent) identified key areas of improvement, naming communication (33 per cent), greater support to understand the legal implications relating to the sale or purchase (21 per cent), and a clear walkthrough of the expected process (19 per cent) as the top three,” he said.
“A further 15 per cent would like to see more explanation of any risks, restrictions and planning relating to a property, and 12 per cent wanted adjustments to service fees.”
Knowledge was a common theme for experience improvements across all key parties, including real estate agents, mortgage lenders and financial institutions, and building and pest inspectors.
Bailie said lawyers received the most positive feedback of all professions in the transaction process.
“Around 30 per cent of respondents experienced difficulties with their real estate agent, while more than a quarter of respondents (27 per cent) rated their experience with a mortgage lender or financial institution between poor and average,” he said.
Only 2 per cent of respondents said they had “extremely unsatisfactory” experiences with lawyers and conveyancers, and 66 per cent of respondents indicated there was no improvement required at all for lawyers or conveyancers.
