The housing market was halted on Thursday night by the Government after financial institutions said they could no longer operate properly.
Ministers are discouraging buyers from going ahead with house sales and purchases unless they have already exchanged contracts as part of wider efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, saying no one should move unless absolutely necessary.
The effect of the government saying “we strongly advise you not to do it” might well be to slow the housing market down to a near halt. But it’s still not true that the government has halted it. We didn’t actually elect Ritchie you know.