Since the housing market was reopened last month, demand indicators suggest sales and lettings transactions will increase over coming months, according to a Knight Frank residential market update.

The number of property transactions for the week ending 20 June was 48,450, a 16% increase from April.

There are doubts on the long-term economic impact on the stream of demand on the market stemming from the underlining impact of Covid-19, Knight Frank experts said.

Property transactions in May were 50% lower than the figure recorded 12 months ago, according to provisional data from HMRC.

“Demand built up as a result of the lockdown but also the political turbulence and changing tax landscape of recent years,” said Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank.

He added: “The market has picked up where it left off following December’s general election. However, we are not yet in a position to fully assess the economic impact of the pandemic, which means 2020 could produce a particularly uneven pattern of activity.”