Landmark e-conveyancing property deal as PEXA and Sympli connect
In a major milestone for the electronic conveyancing market, the first property transactions have been settled using both of the competing electronic lodgment network operators, Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) and Sympli.
The federal government said it represented a significant step to create “much-needed competition in the e-conveyancing market”.
The deal came as PEXA, which has been the monopoly provider of digital property settlement services and is part owned by Commonwealth Bank, responded to an ASX query relating to its full-year results last month, which triggered an 11 per cent fall in its share price.
The first property transactions have been settled using both competing electronic lodgment network operators, PEXA and Sympli. Peter Rae
The ASX asked last week whether PEXA should have known its profit numbers would miss market expectations before its results were reported. PEXA responded on Wednesday that the results had hit guidance on all metrics other than revenue, on which there was not a material variance, confirming its compliance with the ASX listing rules.
Sympli, a collaboration between the ASX and InfoTrack, has been set up to compete with PEXA. Sympli told the ACCC last year that PEXA had been refusing to engage with industry bodies and was deliberately spreading misinformation.
E-conveyancing facilitates the transfer of legal title of land to a new property owner, via a digital process involving state land title offices. It replaces paper and manual processes traditionally involved in property transactions.
Despite the arrival of Sympli, all lawyers, conveyancers and banks involved in electronic conveyancing have had to use the same operator – PEXA or Sympli – for deals to complete, limiting the
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