Essex and Hertfordshire estate agent Mullucks has welcomed an independent report which recommends the property industry should be one of the first sectors to resume trading, to ease the UK economy out of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Written by Conservative peer Lord Ghadia and GlaxoSmithKline’s chairman Sir Jonathan Symonds, the report has been submitted to ministers as they receive advice on how to revive the economy without compromising the nation’s health.

Mullucks Managing Director Daniel Galati said: “As ever, the safety of our staff and the wider public would need to be our first consideration. However, once restrictions are lifted, there’s no reason why we wouldn’t be able to practice social distancing effectively - whether it’s in our offices, on valuations or on viewings.

"It’s also true to say that estate agency is a business which has one of the widest potential impacts as an economic revival ‘multiplier’, but with minimal risk of spreading infection among the population further. Once we can get back to work, then builders, surveyors, solicitors and removal firms can all resume business too.”

Publication of the report came on the eve of the announcement by the government last week that the lockdown is to be extended until May 7th. It suggested that estate agency branches re-opening would be joined by restaurants and coffee shops, as the government tries to prepare the population to ‘learn to live’ with Covid-19, in the months prior to a vaccine being developed.

Daniel Galati added: “Obviously the world is waiting for a vaccine before we know that we can get back to business as normal. And clearly, the government would also like estate agency to resume again, because of the tax receipts it would mean for the Treasury.

“I think it would be important to avoid a ‘stop-start’ economy, which would damage public morale and business confidence yet further. But until the time comes, we welcome the recommendations in this report, and are standing by, ready to step in, as and when we are allowed to do so.”