Figures published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) show its headline house price balance has slumped to -32 percent in May. This is the lowest reading since 2010. April figures showed a smaller decline of -22 percent.
Although RICS said the near-term sales expectations were now broadly neutral, the 12-month outlook has improved.
Robert Gardner, the Nationwide’s chief economist, told the BBC: “There are some signs [the housing market] is starting to stabilise”.
He added this is because the current situation is not a typical economic downturn.
The pipeline of sales from before lockdown is now largely going through, according to RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn.
He said: ”But it remains to be seen how sustained this improvement will prove.”
Mr Rubinsohn pointed to uncertainty about a possible jump in unemployment when the Government’s jobs retention programme expires at the end of October.
Under some estimates, the UK’s unemployment rate is set to more than double to 10 percent and remain elevated for the entirety of 2021, the OECD said.
OECD added: “For the time being respondents to the survey see the trend in transactions being broadly flat.”
Figures released this week by Zoopla showed that more homes were sold last week than this time last year and buyer demand is 54 percent stronger than it was before the market was frozen on March 27.
Zoopla said million-pound home sales are now 16 percent higher across the UK than they were in early March although this price bracket still accounts for fewer than five percent of sales overall.
Lucian Cook, Savills head of residential research, said: “Without doubt, pent-up demand accounts for some of the bounce in transaction numbers, but it also tells us that for those buyers with stable incomes who’ve been able to shield their finances through the lockdown, there is still a pretty strong resolve around moving, including within London’s domestic prime markets.
READ MORE: Lawyers & surveyors see surge of buyers since lockdown lifted
Economists expect house prices will stay depressed in the near-term.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics told the Financial Times: “The huge size of the blow from COVID-19 to households’ incomes and the deterioration in consumers’ confidence suggests that house prices will continue to trend down in the second half of this year.”
Economic uncertainty will likely put a pin in many people’s plans to relocate.