Property prices could take nine months to recover

Property sales could take nine months to return to levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, estate agents have suggested. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors polled 360 branches around the country last month and found that new instructions fell to the lowest level recorded since the survey began in 1999 after a wave of deals collapsed while the market was shut. A long, slow recovery is likely before the market returns to normal, RICS said. Four-fifths of agents saw both buyers and sellers pulling out of transactions in April while the housing market was shut. On average, surveyors said they thought that it would take nine months for sales to rebound to the levels seen before the lockdown.

The Daily Telegraph (13/05/2020)   The Times (13/05/2020)