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The week's most important personal finance news, analysis and expert advice, from pensions and property to investment ideas and savings tips.

Housing market given the green light

Home buyers and sellers can now get back to business as the Government said last night that property viewings and valuations can resume from today.

You can now travel to visit estate or letting agents – so long as you follow the rules on social distancing. This will allow the almost half a million people who have been waiting to move house to do so. But will they be tempted back so easily?

Many are concerned their chains will still fall through if people are too scared to do viewings. Some estate agents have suggested that wearing face masks and gloves while going round properties or limiting viewings to 15 minutes may restore people's confidence.

But when you're making the biggest financial decision of your life, is a 15-minute whizz round – during which you're too scared to touch anything – really good enough? And if you're planning to buy or sell a property at the moment, we want to hear about it: email melissa.lawford@telegraph.co.uk.

If buyers are unwilling to let people into their homes and sellers reluctant to visit, house prices could continue their downward trend.

It's not just estate agents and surveyors who are back at work this week. House builders, garden centre employees and laboratory technicians have all been heading back to sites and offices after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that anyone who cannot do their job from home should go back to work.

There are also some surprising names on that list. Some accountants, graphic designers and sales people have been told to head back to the office, despite having worked from home without a problem until now.

This is because of a loophole in the Government's advice that allows individual employers to decide who can and cannot work from home effectively. Find out what your rights are here. When will you be back in the office? It could be sooner than you think. For those who aren't back at work, the furlough scheme has been extended and grant applications for the self-employed have opened.

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