Covid hasn’t put the kibosh on the house market.

Strict measures introduced by the government on Wednesday to fight the virus won’t halt property sales or rentals, say experts.

Buyers and sellers can still move house even though England has been split up into three separate geographic tiers, each with its own set of rules geared to lower the level of risk to health from Covid in the region.

Bucks is one of 12 counties in the south east in Tier 2.

You don’t need a passport to cross from region to region, not yet anyway.

Housebuilders, estate agents, chartered surveyors, removal firms and pretty well any business providing a service to the property industry has been given the go-ahead to operate as normal.

Some of the professionals will be working from home but most will be contactable to fix a time for a meeting in person.

Even so, potential buyers and renters are being advised only to book an appointment to view a property they are seriously interested in.

Everyone - sales negotiators and clients - must abide by the guidelines.

If you opt for a real life visit instead of the virtual variety, wash your hands before and after each encounter, wear a mask and keep your distance say the health experts. Stay at arm’s length from your companions. Double the gap if you have short arms.

Sellers are advised to open doors and windows for a free flow of air through the house when visitors are due.

Under the newly introduced safety rules, open house sessions for group viewings are not allowed and buyers should limit themselves to no more than one other adult to share (contain) their excitement if the right place crops up (no children on buying ventures, they’re a distraction).

According to online estate agency Zoopla, there are occasions when the firm’s negotiators and the owners of a property for sale choose to wait outside during a viewing if the weather’s half decent.

Richard Donnell, the agency’s head of research, says the current stamp duty holiday is continuing to be an incentive for buyers not to postpone a planned house move till next spring or summer when the virus will hopefully be more manageable. The tax levy is due to be re-imposed after March 31 next year.

In the meantime, former Wycombe estate agent Mark Hayward, now managing director of Propertymark, the main professional body for estate agents, has written to the Prime Minister urging the government to extend the stamp duty holiday.

For most homebuyers in expensive areas like south Bucks, the reward for moving sooner rather than later could be worth up to £15,000 in saved taxes.

House prices across the country rose 6.5 per cent in the 12 months to October, the highest leap since January 2015, according to this week’s figures from the Nationwide.

Robert Gardner, the building society’s chief economist, says he feared the property market had run out of steam in the economic lull before the most recent lockdown.

However transactions in October rose to 105,600, the highest level since 2016, while mortgage approvals for house purchase in the same month were at the highest level since 2007 at circa 97,500.