OPDA Adds Instamo, Hiizzy as UK Property Data Standards Push Gains Steam

The additions arrive as the UK government's home buying and selling reform programme advances through the Digital Property Market Steering Group, which includes the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business and Trade's Smart Data Council. OPDA has been a formal participant. Its chair Maria Harris gave evidence to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee in 2024 on improving the home buying and selling process. The association's open data standards are designed to feed directly into the legislative and regulatory framework being built.

The broader proptech market has poured investment into digitising the property transaction stack – identity verification, digital title, upfront property information packs, mortgage origination automation. Interoperability remains unresolved. Individual point solutions multiply, yet without shared data standards each handoff between a listing platform, a conveyancer and a lender still requires manual intervention. OPDA's core argument holds that agreement on standards is a prerequisite before any single tool can deliver its full efficiency gain.

For Hiizzy and Instamo, OPDA membership offers two practical benefits: a standards framework that makes their data outputs recognisable to other participants in the chain, and a seat in a trade body that has government engagement. Both are early-stage companies. Neither disclosed revenue, customer numbers or transaction volumes in the membership announcement.

Whether the government's reform programme produces binding interoperability requirements remains open. Whether OPDA's standards achieve the network adoption needed to push the industry beyond early adopters is the next test.