Property transactions rose in Q4 2025 despite a fall in the number of active conveyancing firms, which suggests the market is both recovering and becoming increasingly concentrated, a report from Search Acumen has found.

HM Land Registry recorded 332,830 property transactions in Q4 2025, up 3.09% from 322,690 in Q4 2024. While transactions were 0.9% lower than the peak levels seen during the post-pandemic surge in Q4 2022, Search Acumen said this robust performance in the final quarter signals renewed resilience.

This is as transaction volumes defied the typical seasonal slowdown, which suggests underlying market strength.

Andrew Lloyd, managing director at Search Acumen, said: “After an unprecedented decade of pressure on the conveyancing sector, it’s encouraging to see transaction volumes end 2025 on a stronger footing, with activity holding up through Q4.”

Within this context of improved market performance, the legal sector has experienced a notable deceleration in consolidation throughout 2025 compared with the previous year, even as robust mergers and acquisitions activity characterised the first half of the year.

According to Search Acumen’s analysis of HM Land Registry data, market consolidation appears to have stabilised after peaking in 2023 when the number of active firms dropped by 5.32%.

The subsequent decreases of 2.82% in 2024 and 0.35% in 2025 suggest a more settled landscape, with fewer firms exiting the market.

Over the past decade, the overall number of active law firms has decreased by 13.7%, reflecting sustained structural change within the industry.

Meanwhile, the average case load per firm has risen by 5.8% over the last 10 years, which Search Acumen said highlights a shift towards greater concentration of conveyancing activity among a smaller cohort of larger firms.

Lloyd said: “We shouldn’t underestimate the contribution conveyancers continue to make to the wider property market and the UK economy.”

He added: ““What’s particularly striking in the latest data is that consolidation now appears to be stabilising; firm numbers are no longer falling at the pace we saw in 2023, yet average caseloads per firm are continuing to rise significantly year on year. That creates real commercial opportunity, but it also reinforces the operational strain on legal teams who are already working hard to meet demand.”