The June 2020 RICS survey (Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors) shows potential for a slow housing market recovery. Buyer demand, sales and new listings have all rallied noticeably following the lockdown falls.

Over 60% of respondents said that they had noticed a rise in enquiries over June 2020; a marked increase on both May and April this year. Over 40% have reported an increase on instructions too.

Caution still abounds however, as the number of properties on agents books still remain close to all time low and comments submitted by contributors are still concerned with the challenging economic climate.

RICS chief economist at RICS, Simon Rubinsohn, said: “The latest RICS survey provides further evidence of the buoyancy of the housing market with more buyers and sellers helping to boost activity across the country.

“However, there is increasing concern that the combination of significant job losses over the coming month allied to the scaling back of policy initiatives in early 2021 will have an adverse impact on transaction levels. Meanwhile there is little sense this softer sales picture will be accompanied by very much easing in the momentum around prices and rents adding to the ongoing challenge around affordability.

“Recent government announcements around planning reform have a role to play in addressing this issue as does the focus on low cost home ownership but it is critical that the focus remains squarely on delivering more homes across all tenures to ensure that access to housing is improved and that the fears around a sharp rise in homelessness proves unwarranted.”