Property Market News

A flurry of £10m+ transactions in Q1 has been brought to an abrupt halt by Covid-19, reports Knight Frank, although "buyer interest remains strong pending the market reopening".

Prime Central London saw its fastest quarterly rate of property price inflation in five years in Q1, before the Coronavirus hit.

Over half-a-million property sales will be "lost" due to the Coronavirus lockdown, predicts Knight Frank, but prices are likely to "recover sharply" once restrictions are lifted.

Banks & Government said to be in talks about pausing or adapting the mortgage market in light of the Coronavirus lockdown.

The property market "has not ground to a complete standstill" yet, says Zoopla, but demand is drying up, fall-throughs are escalating - and deal numbers are likely to sink dramatically in the coming months.

The annual rate of property price inflation in prime London turned positive for the first time since 2015 in Q1, says Savills. But the Coronavirus pandemic has put a stop to the burgeoning market recovery.

Official pre-virus data indicates that the annual rate of UK property price inflation fell from +1.7% in December to +1.3% in January.

China's property market flatlined as a result of the Coronavirus lockdown, but there are already signs of recovery, says Knight Frank.

The average GB rent climbed by 3.3% in the year to March, says Hamptons - three times the pace seen in the previous 12 months.

The Coronavirus pandemic is likely to cause "a hiatus in the UK housing market, without necessarily affecting longer term prospects," says Savills' research chief.

"It seems likely that Covid-19, combined with last month’s floods, will have completely wrecked any positive effects that political certainty since the general election may have provided to the housing…

"The key metrics so far all point to a much more active market than last year," says Rightmove, "fuelling upwards price pressure.