Research from a Wirral-based business shows a huge increase in people looking at affordable housing options during lockdown.

The property site MovingSoon.co.uk reported a spike in searches for social rent and shared ownership properties which could be driven by fears of job security post lockdown.

The affordable homes portal also carried out a survey of 950 users of their portal and found that nine out of ten respondents were looking to move home before the Coronavirus outbreak.

Interestingly, only 14% of those looking to move have now changed their mind, showing that the lockdown hasn't dampened the UK's appetite for moving home.

A third of prospective house movers said they would now be happy to view properties via a virtual property tour as an alternative to physical viewings.

Paul Malone, Founder of MovingSoon, explained what that could mean for housing providers.

He said: “The results are a good indication that once lockdown is over, there will be a swift return to normal levels of housing activity in Wirral. What is also interesting is a lot of our users said that virtual viewings will help them immensely, saving time and money travelling to view properties.

“Another key finding from the survey showed that some of those living in flats are now thinking seriously about properties with outdoor space in the future.

"It will be interesting to see what sort of effect this will have on future planning applications in Wirral for new high rise residential dwellings.”