The staggered reopening of housing markets across countries and the added impetus from the stamp duty holiday means levels of demand and new sales are expected to remain above pre lockdown levels over the next 1-2 months.

There has been much speculation about the long-term outlook for housing demand in cities. COVID has boosted demand outside the major cities but Zoopla believes this is more a one-off factor than a long-term ‘seismic shift’ in home buyer attitudes.

The stamp duty changes in England and Northern Ireland have delivered an immediate boost to sales in London. Zoopla’s data shows new sales agreed have increased by over a quarter (27%) in London where the greatest benefits of the changes are to be found.

According to Zoopla’s recent reports, the lockdown and 2-month closure of the housing market has impacted the dynamics of supply and demand which influence the near-term direction of pricing.

Statistics show that UK house price inflation in the 12 months to June 2020 edged higher to +2.7%, the highest level of annual growth for almost 2 years. The post election rebound boosted sales and activity over Q1 which is still feeding into the headline index.