Some of the property sector’s leading proptech firms have joined forces in a series of industry hackathons designed to test whether trusted property data can finally flow seamlessly through the homebuying process.
Hosted by the Open Property Data Association (OPDA) and the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG), the events saw firms collaborate in real time within the Smart Property Data Trust Framework sandbox.
Participants including Smoove, PropXchain, ViewMyChain, Sprift and Property Deals Insight tested how property packs, material information, ID verification, anti-money laundering checks and completion data could be shared securely between platforms.
The exercises successfully demonstrated how trusted property data can be accessed and reused across different systems. Smoove and PropXchain retrieved property pack and material information data, with Smoove integrating it directly into its DigitalMove platform.
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
Marc Hatton, Director at PropXchain, says: “The sandbox lets a three-person startup plug into the same property data rails as major institutions.
“That’s the power of an open framework – it levels the playing field. Within the first morning, we had an end-to-end property pack flowing through our stack. That speed comes from data you can trust.”
And Christian Woodhouse, Head of Partnerships at Sprift, adds: “The hackathon proved something we’ve long believed: the data exists, the technology exists, and with the right framework, things move fast.
“What struck us most was how quickly participants could demonstrate real, end-to-end data flows. Not in theory, but in a live environment.
“The Trust Framework gives the industry the infrastructure to stop treating property data as a series of isolated requests and start treating it as a shared, trusted resource.
“That shift is what will finally make transactions faster and less painful for everyone involved.”
PROPERTY ID
The project also highlighted challenges that still need to be addressed, including consent, governance, liability and the creation of a consistent Property ID.
Nitin Aggarwal, CEO and Founder of Property Deals Insight, says: “The UK property market does not lack data; the problem is that critical information is fragmented, duplicated and often discovered too late.
“The value of the OPDA sandbox is that it brings the industry together to test how trusted property data can actually be used in real workflows.”
Renu Kiran, Operations Director at ViewMyChain, adds: “This is about proving interoperability, not just agreeing it’s a good idea. The sandbox shows whether data can actually flow across the transaction as it should.”
BIG STEP FORWARD
Maria Harris (main picture), Chair of the OPDA, says: “This is a critical step forward for the industry. For too long, property transactions have been held back by fragmented data and manual processes.
“What we’re seeing through these hackathons is the industry coming together to test practical solutions that can make home moving faster, more transparent and less stressful for consumers. The ambition is simple: capture property data once, trust it, and reuse it. That has the potential to transform the entire transaction.”
The government-backed project is funded through a £742,700 award from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund and is being delivered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers in partnership with OPDA, supported by Raidiam, HM Land Registry and the DPMSG.
