UK property firm Rightmove sees record website views as market picks up

LONDON (Reuters) - British biggest property website, Rightmove, said it had its busiest day on record this week, suggesting the housing market is picking up after the government eased its coronavirus lockdown for the sector in England.

Rightmove said its site had more than 6 million visits for the first time on May 27, up an annual 18%.

"The challenge agents are facing is handling this surge in enquiries, having a process to deliver virtual viewings, and setting up socially distanced and safe physical viewings," Rightmove's commercial director, Miles Shipside, said.

The pace of a sharp fall in agreed sales had eased off but it would take "considerable time" for them to return to levels of early 2020, Shipside said.

Rightmove said areas which drew the most interest included places on or close to England's south coast and in its northern towns and cities, suggesting people were planning to work more from home, rather than commute to offices, after the lockdown.

(Reporting by William Schomberg, editing by David Milliken)