House prices in the UK rose dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic, with growth slowing down in 2022 and turning negative in 2023. The year-on-year annual house price change peaked at 14 percent in July 2022. In April 2025, house prices increased by 3.5 percent. As of late 2024, the average house price was close to 290,000 British pounds. Correction in housing prices: a European phenomenon The trend of a growing residential real estate market was not exclusive to the UK during the pandemic. Likewise, many European countries experienced falling prices in 2023. When comparing residential property RHPI (price index in real terms, e.g. corrected for inflation), countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and Spain also saw prices decline. Sweden, one of the countries with the fastest growing residential markets, saw one of the largest declines in prices. How has demand for UK housing changed since the outbreak of the coronavirus? The easing of the lockdown was followed by a dramatic increase in home sales. In November 2020, the number of mortgage approvals reached an all-time high of over 107,000. One of the reasons for the housing boom were the low mortgage rates, allowing home buyers to take out a loan with an interest rate as low as 2.5 percent. That changed as the Bank of England started to raise the base lending rate, resulting in higher borrowing costs and a decline in homebuyer sentiment.

In the third quarter of 2020, detached homes saw the highest increase in the number of agreed sales in the residential real estate market in the United Kingdom (UK). After months of lockdown, home buyer interest towards rural living and larger homes with more than three bedrooms also grew and the number of sales agreed for these types of properties rose by 47 and 31 percent respectively.

Companies in the Residential Estate Agents industry act as intermediaries when a residential property is bought, sold, rented or leased in the UK. Typically, estate agents earn income via fixed flat rates or commissions and transaction fees related to the selling price charged to interested parties. Estate agents also provide clients with value-added ancillary services through which they can earn sufficient income, including specialist advisory services, contract appraisals, property valuation and escrow services. Over the five years through 2024-25, residential real estate agent’s is expected to contract at a compound annual rate of 4.7% to £5.8 billion. In 2020-21, a temporary hiatus in housing market activity during the spring lockdown left a gap in estate agents' income statements, made worse by unfavourable tax reform for buy-to-let property investors. Activity rebounded over 2021-22 as the release of pent-up demand and stimulatory policies restored and elevated property transaction levels. However, over 2023-24, revenue tanked by 14.4% as successive rises in the bank rate, eventually landing at 5.25% in August 2023, increased mortgage rates across the UK and significantly reduced the market for residential property transactions and estate agent revenue. In 2024-25, revenue is expected to inch upwards by 0.7%, as interest rates fell to 5% in August 2024; interest rates are forecast to drop at least once more in 2024-25, making borrowing more affordable and increasing transaction volumes. According to HMRC, there were 90,210 UK residential transactions in August 2024, a 5% increase on August 2023. There is optimism as household disposable incomes and consumer confidence climb, meaning a bounce back in the housing market is imminent. Over the five years through 2029-30, residential real estate agent’s revenue is expected to expand at a compound annual rate of 1.4% to £6.2 billion. Beyond an envisaged recovery phase, competitive pressures from the proliferation of online-only and hybrid estate agents will intensify, challenging traditional agencies. Due to increasing council taxes on second homes, landlords may sell some of their portfolios, increasing the supply of houses to be transacted and boosting revenue. House prices are forecast to trend upwards in the medium term, increasing transaction commissions and benefitting estate agents.

The UK construction sector directly affects commercial property consultants’ incomes as they are paid a fee for providing a range of advisory services to occupiers, tenants, investors and developers. When economic conditions are strong, rents tend to swell, supporting investment volumes and boosting industry demand. Over the five years through 2024-25, industry revenue is expected to drop at a compound annual rate of 3% to £1 billion, including a projected jump of 1% in 2024-25. The COVID-19 outbreak created hurdles for the industry, with investors steering clear of new property purchases and many retail and hospitality clients exiting leases. As a result, commercial property leasing and transaction volumes trended downward to the disadvantage of commercial real estate consultants. The UK’s gradual economic recovery after lifting COVID-19 lockdown restrictions boosted growth in commercial property demand and transaction levels, fuelling revenue growth in 2021-22. However, this came to a halt amid an inflationary environment and heightened economic uncertainty, with soaring material prices and steep borrowing costs also denting the commercial construction sector. Lower business confidence and reduced investment have weakened demand for commercial property consultancy services. Subsiding inflation, falling interest rates and growing business optimism will likely support spending on commercial real estate consultants in 2024-25. The adverse economic climate has weighed on consultants’ bottom line, with the average profit margin estimated to sit at 13.1%. Over the five years through 2029-30, industry revenue is forecast to climb at a compound annual rate of 4.1% to £1.3 billion. Improving economic conditions and more robust GDP growth will boost commercial property transaction volumes, benefitting industry demand. Strong forecast growth in the office, retail (particularly central London), hospitality and industrial markets will fuel demand for long commercial property leases, driving commercial real estate consultants’ revenue.

To contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), on March 23, 2020, a number of restrictions unfolded in the United Kingdom (UK). The population was urged to stay and work from home and many retailers deemed non-essential had to temporarily suspend their operations. The disruption of activity is a serious threat to the survival of businesses in the retail sector. This could have a knock-on effect on the commercial real estate sector. Nevertheless, more than ** percent of the out-of-town retail and leisure real estate area was deemed essential and could potentially remain open. This was the equivalent of ** percent of units in this market.

The growth of the online short-term rental market, facilitated by platforms such as Airbnb, has added to pressure on cities’ housing supply. Without detailed data on activity levels, it is difficult to design and evaluate appropriate policy interventions. Up until now, the data sources and methods used to derive activity measures have not provided the detail and rigour needed to robustly carry out these tasks. This paper demonstrates an approach based on daily scrapes of the calendars of Airbnb listings. We provide a systematic interpretation of types of calendar activity derived from these scrapes and define a set of indicators of listing activity levels. We exploit a unique period in short-term rental markets during the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown to demonstrate the value of this approach.

Following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown, the time to sell a property increased to the record 88 days in May 2020. Nevertheless, it quickly fell after the measures were eased and property buyer demand increased. Since the beginning of 2021, the average number of days on market has continued falling in October 2022, it took on average 40 days to sell a property.

The number of monthly mortgage approvals for home purchase in the United Kingdom (UK) peaked at nearly 108,000 approvals in November 2020, after falling to record low levels at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the second quarter of the year. The spike was due to the easing of the first lockdown and a rise in the demand for housing. In 2022, the housing market started to cool, resulting in a falling number of mortgage approvals. In August 2024, there were 65,647 mortgage approvals. Remortgaging approvals followed a similar trend.