HMRC’s provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in February 2021 is 147,050.

This is 48.5% higher than February 2020 and 23.0% higher than January 2021.

Its provisional non-seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in February is 122,840, 48.3% higher than a year before and 26.4% higher than January.

Paul Stockwell, chief commercial officer at Gatehouse Bank, said: “Property transactions show no signs of slowing down as sales, incentivised by the stamp duty discount, complete. The fact that hundreds of thousands of agreements are still working their way through the system means this pattern will continue for many months.

“Meanwhile, the easing of lockdown restrictions, the end of home-schooling and a sense of the beginning of a return to normality may encourage more people to put their homes on the market.

“There is also likely to be pent-up demand from buyers, just as we saw after the first lockdown last year, who have been waiting for the right homes to come up for sale.

“We expect the property market will remain a hive of activity, but anyone about to embark on a home purchase above £250,000 should now be budgeting to pay stamp duty as the industry is continuing to see a significant backlog of sales, and completions are still taking longer than usual.”