Conveyancing volumes hit a record high in 2016 as the number of new firms operating in the market broke a five-year decline.

In 2016, the number of conveyancing firms rose by 4% to reach 5,572, up from 5,357 the year before, according to the Search Acumen Conveyancing Market Tracker.

Despite this annual rise, the data reveals a 28% drop in total firms over ten years, representing an average dropout rate of 213 firms each year since 2006 through both exits and mergers.

The average conveyancing firm completed 22% more transactions in 2016 than ten years ago – rising from 158 in 2006 to 193. This was also the highest number of completed transactions on average per year per conveyancing firm since Search Acumen began tracking the data in 2005.

But it wasn’t the bigger players driving the increases last year. The index found firms ranked 11th to 20th in the market completed 3,782 transactions on average during the year: accounting for the largest annual rise of 11% from 2015.

Mark Riddick, chairman of Search Acumen, said: “2016 was a testing year for the conveyancer. As the market picked up its pace following the introduction of the Mortgage Market Review in 2014, the industry was yet again exposed to a new wave of uncertainty.

“First came the stamp duty land tax reform, propelling activity to record levels ahead of April to beat the tax hike and then sprung the EU referendum, presenting a threat on the opposite side of the scale.

“The industry has been tried and tested and our tracker looking at the year in retrospect shows that we have remained resilient.

“The first year-on-year rise in total conveyancing firms since 2011 is an interesting development during a time of economic uncertainty, and can be commended by businesses in all sectors. The growth shows that the sector very much adopted a ‘business as usual’ attitude, disallowing the multitude of obstacles from the ongoing Brexit saga.”

Riddick said conveyancers must prepare to embrace technology and be more savvy to the continuing threats of cybercrime in the industry over the next 12 months.