What caught my eye this week.

Were you one of the millions who a few years ago became obsessed with the fall of the Roman Empire?

Being stuck inside during the pandemic saw minds of a certain age turn to the rise of Julius Caesar, the demise of the Republic, and how Rome was eventually overrun (and run by – IYKYK) the barbarians.

Theories abound when it comes to explaining Rome’s collapse: populism, a reliance on slavery, imported decadence, outsourcing the military, debasing the currency. All more than enough to keep anyone in podcasts for a year.

However, if the collapse of the Roman Empire is hard to figure out, then the reasons for the decline and fall of another once all-conquering force – the UK property market, especially in London and the South East – and its prospects for recovery are equally contested.

You’ll recall prime prices in London are flat over the past ten years and well down in real terms.

The rest of the capital hasn’t fared much better – one in seven property owners in the capital sold at a loss last year, according to the Land Registry – and the Covid-migration price bounce in the more scenic regions of the South East long ago unwound, too.

It’s largely only in the Midlands and the North of England where prices are still advancing.

And mostly that’s because they took so long to recover from the crash of 2008/2009.

Barbarians at the front gate

Who should disappointed homeowners blame for the down valuations, gazundering would-be purchasers, and houses that fail to sell amid a glut of similar listings?

Well, themselves in the first instance for pricing their homes too highly, of course.

But as for what did for the UK property market more generally – take your pick.

Interest rate rises surely did the most damage recently. But London was soggy long before the five-minute reign of Empress Liz Truss spiked mortgage rates up.

Higher transaction taxes and a decade-long effort to make buy-to-let less attractive to casual investors? They must be in the mix.

The overall tax take is up too. That leaves less to spend on property.

Then you have Brexit and its aftermath, and the exodus of non-dom money in London.

Most recently, Labour has thrown a wet blanket over any sparks of life in the UK economy, not least with its interminable Budget speculation. (It’ll be ‘interesting’ to see the impact of its new mansion tax on homes above £2m.)

Bread and circuses

On the other hand, incomes have risen quite a bit in recent years – in nominal terms at least – and years of price attrition has surely taken the froth off most property valuations.

The FT’s graph below shows that first-time buyer affordability has improved. Those of us who own our homes thanks to a mortgage are also typically in a better spot, as inflation has eroded the real value of our often nominally-monstrous debts.

And – whisper it – Rachel Reeves and her wonks have gone for more than a month now without floating a trial balloon to send would-be homebuyers back under their blankets.

Finally, we’re building far fewer new homes than we need to. This should help support prices, especially in London.

All that adds up to what counts for optimism in UK property these days!

Caveat emptor

Talking of the chancellor, if I were her I would have simplified and slashed stamp duty on residential property in the Budget, with the expectation it would be at worst revenue neutral.

Maybe it’s a South of England thing, but nobody thinks about moving without looking at the stamp duty bill – easily tens of thousands for a three-bed terrace in London – and quailing. And often opting not to move as a consequence.

Something needs to get the UK growing again, and everyone playing swapsies with property – and revamping kitchens and bathrooms as they do so – has helped before.

If we could have an activity boom without prices taking off again, so much the better.

As things stand though, moving home remains dauntingly expensive. And there’s far less confidence in the property market than you’d expect, given relatively low unemployment and interest rates off their highs.

Consider this selection of the week’s relevant reads:

• Homes for sale reach eight-year high as competition intensifies – This Is Money
• UK property market ‘on the up’ amid bump in housing prices – Guardian
• Is now a good time to sell your home? – Which
• What’s behind London’s house price slump? – This Is Money
• The problem with the mansion tax is it’s badly designed [Paywall] – FT

The UK property market nearly always sees an optimistic asking price bump in January. But beyond that, who knows what 2026 will bring?

Feel free to place your bets in the comments – but personally I doubt we’re off to the chariot races.

(Sorry, I’ll get my toga.)

Have a great weekend.

[continue reading…]

Investors love a good transfer. Anything to shave a couple of basis points from platform fees.

Regulators love a good transfer. It’s a sure sign of a healthy competitive market.

Platforms love a good transfer. At least they do when they’re on the receiving end – admittedly not so much when they’re losing assets to a competitor.

So if everyone loves a good transfer, why do so many go wrong? Why do some complete in an hour while others drag on for a year? And crucially — how can you tilt the odds in favour of a smooth ride?

Maybe get yourself a coffee. We’ll need to wade through some detail before we get to the answers.

(We’re focusing mainly on retail platform transfers, though much of this applies to adviser platforms, wealth managers and defined contribution pension providers. We’re steering clear of the defined benefit pension minefield.)

Know your rights

There are two types of platform transfers:

• Cash transfers – holdings are sold, and the resulting cash is moved.
• In-specie transfers – investments are transferred as-is.

Cash transfers are simpler but have an obvious disadvantage: you’re out of the market for the duration, with all the associated market timing risks, tax implications, and trading costs.

In the bad old days (before RDR came into effect at the end of 2012), many platforms were a metaphorical ‘lobster pot’: easy to start investing but hard to escape later. They refused in-specie transfers or made them prohibitively expensive, which meant it was effectively impossible to transfer out without selling.

Today, platforms have to offer in-specie transfers. And even though exit fees aren’t officially banned, they have almost disappeared, so there’s no reason to hold back.

Of course, your investments must be supported on the new platform for it to be transferable. That insured fund you’ve had since 1990? You’re going to need to sell that.

Also – it’s not necessarily all or nothing. Many platforms will allow partial transfers, so you can move some investments while leaving others behind.

How do transfers work?

Transfers are typically driven by the receiving platform. You ask your new platform to start the transfer and give them the details of your old account. They take it from there.

There are two electronic transfer systems that platforms may use behind-the-scenes:

• TISA Exchange (TeX) – supporting cash and in-specie transfers of pensions, ISAs, and General Investing Accounts (GIAs).
• Origo Options – handling cash pension transfers only. An older system, but still widely used.

There are also a million ways of doing transfers manually, with letters, forms, wet signatures, faxes (yes, really) and emails. All of them bad.

With TeX and Options, no physical signatures are needed. Everything can be done online.

If a platform asks you to sign forms, then start worrying.

All the established platforms support TeX, but if you’re flirting with a small player or new entrant, check before committing. It’s nice knowing you can leave painlessly if things don’t work out.

What does a good platform transfer look like?

A few years back, I was involved in a research exercise. We opened an account with Fidelity and added a holding in a Vanguard Lifestrategy fund. Then we opened an account at Hargreaves Lansdown and requested an in-specie transfer of the Fidelity account.

Just a couple of hours later, we checked the Hargreaves account and the transfer had already completed. There was our Lifestrategy holding ready to be traded.

Admittedly, this was a simple transfer involving only well-established and highly automated organisations. But it shows what is possible.

There is no precise definition of how long a good transfer should take. The FCA regulations demand that transfers be carried out ‘within a reasonable time’, whatever that means.

More practically, industry initiatives have generally concluded that between one and two weeks is a reasonable target for a good transfer.

What’s the worst that can happen?

Some recent research from Pension Bee found that 27 out of 163 advisers experienced pension transfers taking more than a year to complete.

Some reported waits of over 1000 days. That’s getting on for three years! I’d be on hunger strike in their head office before then.

My most recent workplace pension transfer took around two months to complete. Better than three years, but still desperately poor.

The problem? Basic communication. One party emailed the wrong address. The other waited for a reply that never came. Both sat waiting until I chased it all up.

Who knows, if I hadn’t chased maybe it would’ve taken three years…

What goes wrong?

Reasons for transfer delays are legion. Common problems include:

• Account detail mismatches – name or account number discrepancies
• Anti-scam checks – anything triggering red or amber scam warning flags
• Foreign holdings – non-UK shares and funds will often take longer
• AML/KYC issues – incomplete checks on the old account
• In-flight trades – transfers can’t proceed until settlement

But in many cases, problems are the result not of hard technical barriers like the above, but simple logistical hiccups. Think missed emails, misfiled instructions, or administrative overload.

Pension problems

When something goes very wrong, chances are it’s a pension transfer.

Pension transfers, for good reasons, are more tightly regulated. Unfortunately, some of the anti-scam regulations are clumsily drafted. This can cause unnecessary delays if applied with excessive zeal.

There are also some dark corners of the corporate pensions industry that still use quill pens and sealing wax, and with whom you’re always going to have a battle.

But for any reasonably modern personal pension with a competent administrator, there’s really no reason why a pension transfer should take any longer than an ISA or GIA.

A note on share classes

Share classes and conversions deserve an article of their own. (And one is in the pipeline. I can feel the thrill of excitement from here!)

For now I should at least highlight the platform transfer implications.

Say you own a fund on your existing platform, but your new platform only supports that fund in a different share class – perhaps one with discounted fees.

In this case, the holding will need to be converted as part of the transfer process.

The good news is that platforms are obliged to handle this for you so you can still transfer in-specie. It just might take a bit longer.

Are platform transfers getting easier?

At any given time there is at least one industry group aiming to solve the transfer problem. Trouble is, they often seem to resemble one of those public inquiries that deliberates and delays until everyone’s lost the will to live and the issue can safely be left to settle in the long grass.

Less cynically, there’s no doubt that transfers have improved considerably over the past decade or so.

But progress has been slow and has mostly been prompted by regulatory pressure. Don’t expect a step change anytime soon.

How to tip the odds in your favour

Some transfers will always be messy, but you can improve your chances of an easy life.

When choosing a new platform:

• Go electronic – make sure they support TeX
• Avoid exit fees – now very rare anyway

Before you initiate the transfer:

• Keep records – note holdings and balances
• Double check – account names and numbers
• Avoid March and April – tax-year-end congestion

During the transfer:

• Chase – early and often

The last one is crucial. If there’s the slightest problem then your transfer will likely get stuck in a queue until someone investigates. The loudest customer gets the attention.

So if you don’t hear anything for a couple of weeks, then chase it up. Chase both sides to be sure. Be polite and, most importantly, be persistent. Relentless even.

And finally…

Some transfers are quick. One day, maybe all transfers will be quick. But until that day, you’ll have to be vigilant, vocal, and dogged.

And please share your platform transfer tales in the comments. We can all learn from the experiences of others. And, of course, enjoy the horror stories!

Good luck – may your next transfer be closer to an hour than a year.