Almost one in 10 homebuyers completing Source of Funds checks through Thirdfort used money originating overseas for all or part of their purchase, new analysis shows.
The client due diligence platform found that international funds were present in 9.7% of the cases it examined.
India was the most common source country, followed by the United States, Hong Kong, Italy and China. China has entered the top five during the past two years, replacing France.
The findings are based on more than one million Source of Funds verifications completed through Thirdfort since it launched the service in 2019. They reflect activity on its platform rather than necessarily representing the entire UK property market.
CROSS-BORDER CHECKS
Overseas funds do not inherently indicate suspicious activity but can make client due diligence more complex for estate agents, conveyancers and other regulated property professionals.
Firms may need to establish the origin of money moving between jurisdictions, understand the parties involved and collect evidence that satisfies anti-money laundering requirements.
Olly Thornton-Berry (main picture, right), Co-founder and CEO of Thirdfort, says: “Our data points to a market where most buyers are funding a purchase in ordinary, explainable ways.
“Meanwhile, there is a much smaller, more identifiable set of transactions that create the biggest headaches, with money crossing borders, cash moving in patterns worth understanding and more gifts being made.”
CASH ACTIVITY DECLINES
Thirdfort also examined cash deposits entering accounts used to fund property purchases.
Some 9% of buyers had made more than 10 cash deposits into the relevant account during the previous six months.
However, the proportion of Source of Funds checks featuring a median cash deposit above £500 has declined. It fell from 9.47% in 2023 and 9.52% in 2024 to 7.54% during 2025 and 6.99% so far in 2026.
Cryptocurrency remains a marginal source of property funding. Thirdfort found that approximately 0.1% of buyers and people providing gifted deposits had money originating from crypto assets, with the proportion remaining stable since 2024.
Thirdfort’s digital service allows buyers, sellers and giftors to complete the Source of Funds process on a mobile phone, reducing the need for professionals to request bank statements and explanations through repeated emails.
Main picture: Thirdfort Co-founders Jack Bidgood and Olly Thornton-Berry.
