The average price of a UK home is currently £238,511, according to Halifax, down 0.6% compared to April.

However, that’s to be expected given the coronavirus crisis and lockdown and, when measured over the longer term, prices are still up.

Quarterly house price inflation in April was 0.7%, said Halifax, while prices were 2.7% higher than the same time last year.

Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, said: “With market activity currently almost at a complete standstill, the limited number of transactions available means that calculating average house prices has inevitably become more challenging. This will lead to a great deal of volatility until more data becomes available.

“It will not be until after lockdown restrictions are eased that we will get a sense of the new temporary normal conditions for the housing market. Social distancing raises new challenges for home viewings and valuations and this will require the industry to adapt to build and maintain consumer confidence.

“The future remains uncertain and based on our current forecasting we expect short-term headwinds to house prices, although we maintain our underlying confidence in the health of the housing market in the longer term.”

Andrew Montlake, managing director at mortgage broker, Coreco, added: “Though the property market has been artificially paused, what we do know is that there are many buyers and sellers who remain keen to progress their move.

“We have received a lot more enquiries over the past couple of weeks, with many people now looking to move to more rural areas once this is all over given the perceived reduced risk from future peaks and pandemics.”