Property platform Zoopla expects sales transactions to hit 1.5 millon by the end of the year – up 45% on 2020 – almost taking the market back to its 2007 peak of 1.6 million. The value of sales in 2021 is forecast to total £461bn, up 68% from 2019 amid a rise in higher-value homes exchanging. However, the total number of homes available to buy is down 20.8% in the year to mid-May, when compared to the average last year. Zoopla also found that average house prices rose at 4.1% in the year to April, up from 2.3% in April last year, but down from 4.7% at the start of the year. On a city level, Liverpool (+6.9%) and Manchester (+6.8%) are registering the highest price growth of major cities, the fifth consecutive month this has been the case.