House sales slowly recovering from COVID-19 lockdown

House sales showed signs of slow recovery in May, increasing 16% on the month before, but they were still at only half the level seen a year earlier. The figures from HM Revenue and Customs show that an estimated 48,450 residential property transactions took place across the UK during May. This was 49.6% lower than the number seen in May 2019, when there were 96,050 sales recorded. HMRC said the figures should be taken with caution, as they were "provisional" and - due to the lockdown - based on incomplete data. Transaction numbers in the second quarter of this year have fallen to levels similar to those seen in late 2008 and in early 2009, following the financial crisis

Sky News (23/06/2020)   The Times (23/06/2020)