This is what housing market experts think will happen to property prices in the coming months

Zoopla said it expects to see house prices bounce upwards over the coming months as pent-up buyer demand which has grown during lockdown is released into the market – before falling towards the end of 2020 into early 2021.

While UK prices are set to increase by between two per cent and three per cent over the next quarter, the initial upward momentum will be followed by a price dip as economic conditions bite, it predicted.

Richard Donnell, Zoopla's director of research and insight, said: "The rebound in housing market activity has taken many in the industry by surprise.

"It is welcome news given the projections for falling economic growth and rising unemployment.

"Estate agents and developers are responding and using the upsurge in demand to rebuild their sales pipelines and open up their developments."

Zoopla said that while buyer demand is elevated, the choice of properties available per estate agency branch is down by 15 per cent typically compared with a year ago.

The website added that in England, where the housing market reopened in May, the sales rebound has been strongest in the North, led by Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester, where sales are up to around 20 per cent higher than in February.

Activity levels are also expected to rebound in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as pent-up demand is released.

Mr Donnell continued: "We see returning pent-up demand and new buyers entering the market creating upward pressure on prices in the face of a lower supply of homes for sale which has been exacerbated by the lockdown.

"House price growth is set to hold up in the near term and we expect the downward pressure on prices to come in the final months of the year as demand weakens."

Most new sales being agreed in the current rebound are likely to complete between August and October.

Going into the autumn, the downturn in demand will coincide with low deposit mortgages become more scarce and coronavirus having a further impact on employment levels, Zoopla predicted.

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