New sales agreed return to pre-lockdown levels: Zoopla

Additionally, the average asking price of sales agreed in the last week were 6% higher than a year ago, suggesting house price indices may not register immediate price falls in the short term.

Sales are higher across all price bands nationally but demand for housing has increased at a higher rate for higher value homes. Nationally, £1m home sales are 16% higher than in early March although they account for just 3% of overall sales agreed in the last week.

Demand for housing is now 54% higher than at the start of March. Zoopla says Covid-19 has created a "one-off boost to demand" but believes that this spike will be short-lived.

Richard Donnell, director of research and insight at Zoopla, said: “The rebound in housing demand over the last month is not solely explained by a return of pent-up demand. Covid has brought a whole new group of would-be buyers into the housing market. Activity has grown across all pricing levels, but the higher the value of a home, the greater the increase in supply and sales as people look to trade up. New sales in London are lagging behind as buyers look at commuting and moving into the regions.

“Higher asking prices for newly agreed sales means that house price indices may not register immediate price falls. Lower asking prices for homes sold over the lockdown period may drag down indices over May, but this new data suggests house price growth is set to remain positive in the next two months.

“We still believe that this spike in demand will be short-lived as the economic impacts of Covid start to feed through into market sentiment and levels of market activity in 2020 H2.”