A 40% increase in demand for surveys would mean ‘hundreds of thousands of additional surveys,’ warns Property Inspect’s Siân Hemming-Metcalfe.
6th Mar 20260 400 1 minute read Simon Cairnes
Making surveys mandatory before homes are listed for sale could trigger a surge in demand that disrupts the sales process and risks putting pressure on quality, according to Property Inspect Operations Director Siân Hemming-Metcalfe (pictured).
Research by the property inspection software firm found that currently, 58% of buyers commission a survey before completion. If every property required a report before marketing, that figure could result in demand rising by as much as 40%.
This would represent a profound structural change for the surveying profession.”
Hemming-Metcalfe says this would represent a “profound structural change” for the surveying profession and would require rapid expansion of capacity.
She warns that the sector would need to assess whether “existing training pipelines, regional coverage and accreditation frameworks could absorb that demand without affecting turnaround times or report quality”, while technology and workflow systems would also need to evolve to cope with higher volumes.
“A 40% increase in survey demand is not a marginal adjustment,” she says. “Based on current transaction volumes in England, it would mean hundreds of thousands of additional surveys every year. That level of expansion would materially affect capacity planning, commercial models and professional indemnity exposure across the sector.
Greater transparency“Greater transparency at listing could help reduce duplication and improve certainty in a market where fall-through rates remain persistently high. But reform cannot focus solely on efficiency. It must also ensure that training standards, duty of care and lender alignment evolve alongside volume, so that increased access strengthens quality rather than compressing it.”
Hemming-Metcalfe also raises questions about how long seller-commissioned surveys would remain valid if a property is stuck on the market for several months, warning that repeat inspections could add yet more pressure to already stretched surveying capacity.
Tagshome surveys Inventory Base Property inspect sales process reform 6th Mar 20260 400 1 minute read Simon Cairnes Share Facebook X LinkedIn Share via Email
