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Analysts disagree on how much UK house prices will fall due to the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent market freeze, but the consensus is that they will take a hit.

The property market is in limbo: sales are on hold, landlords are struggling, and mortgage searches last month were down 44pc on the previous four-week period, according to the online provider Twenty7Tec.

The spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the country has resulted in an almost complete standstill of the housing market as buying and selling property has effectively been put on ice. 

Stamp duty has become the UK government’s “fiscal weapon of choice” in the housing market but calls for a full-scale overhaul of the property tax are growing as new surcharges and reliefs spark criticism of an increasingly unwieldy regime.

Coronavirus – also known as Covid-19 – has had a dramatic impact on the world since the first reported cases in China at the backend of last year.

Typically, after the Christmas break, the housing market in London is “an absolute desert,” says Simon Barry of Harrods Estates. This year is a different story, he says.

Less than 24 hours after the Conservative party victory in December’s general election, interest in south London’s prime property market was already picking up.

The sheer drama of driving – let alone parking – in cities, along with a bigger push to be healthy and walk or cycle instead, is seeing super-rich buyers increasingly willing to forego off-street parking spaces with their multi-million pound mansions.

Since the UK election, excitement has been palpable. But there are still turbulent times ahead.

In the first of our series of property predictions for 2020, industry experts give their views on what to expect from residential markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the next 12 months.

Pssst… are you “off-market”? No, I don’t mean married — is your house on a secret list of properties for sale?

Londoners thinking of selling their homes appear to be postponing their decision until after the result is known of the General Election on December 12.