Three-quarters of brokers say the stamp holiday should be extended past the end of March.

A further 54 per cent added that transactions failing to complete in time “will be the biggest impact” if the tax suspension ends on schedule, according to a Shawbrook Bank’s December 2020 Broker Barometer survey.

Brokers said that other fallouts from the end of the stamp duty holiday will be a backlog of work during the first quarter of this year, 43 per cent, reduced market investment, 41 per cent, and falling property prices, 34 per cent.

The industry faces a large number of mortgage applications as customers rush to complete purchases before the stamp duty holiday ends on 31 March.

Stamp duty transactions in the last quarter of last year were 43 per cent higher than in the third quarter of 2020, according to HMRC data released this week.

Mortgage approvals jumped more than two-and-a-half times in the second half of last year, with a rise in demand that has continued into 2021 seeing house purchases taking over three months to complete, reported a survey by online mortgage broker Trussle last month.

Almost 70 per cent of homebuyers also want to see the stamp duty holiday extended while just under half worry they will miss the current deadline, said a poll by high-net-worth mortgage broker Enness Global last month.

The housing industry had a strong second half to last year after, chancellor Richi Sunak introduced the stamp duty holiday last July, following approvals that had almost ground to a halt last spring due to the pandemic.

Several industry bodies have called for an extension of the stamp duty holiday.

Brokers in Shawbrook’s survey outline the spark stamp duty holiday has brought to the industry, with 63 per cent saying it has increased investment in the property market, with 33 per cent adding it has made prices more resilient.

Shawbrook Bank sales director of property finance Emma Cox says: “The announcement of the stamp duty holiday in the summer last year has no doubt had a hand in helping to release pent up demand and get the housing market moving again. As investors seek to make the most of the holiday ahead of the deadline, it is understandable that brokers are reporting these positive outcomes as a result.”

She adds: “Our teams are prepared to deal with an increase in activity, but we recommend applications that seek to take advantage of the holiday are submitted as soon as possible.”

Shawbrook’s December 2020 Broker Barometer, surveyed 103 commercial brokers.