New buyers enquiries grew by 14 per cent over the past week, but overall market sentiment fell as “many people focussed instead on the welcome reopening of schools after months being closed”, according to Yomdel.

The estate agent digital tracking firm added that enquiries from landlords fell 13 per cent and also slipped by 6 per cent from tenants, in the week to midnight on Sunday.

However, buyers held strong, growing more than 1 per cent on the week to remain at levels not seen since last summer when the stamp duty holiday was first announced.

Yomdel’s Property Sentiment Tracker added that own-branded estate agent websites remained “extremely strong” at 50 per cent higher than the same week last year just before lockdown was first imposed. It said the proportion engaging in live chat to make initial enquiries was up 63 per cent on a year ago, which in turn delivered 74 per cent more leads.

Yomdel founder and chief executive Andy Soloman says: “With schools finally reopening it is no surprise that volumes of new enquires dropped across the board, but these figures remain extremely strong.

“Of concern though is an apparent widening of the gap between buyers and sellers meaning it is more important than ever for agents to secure new instructions to help address a growing stock imbalance. There is also a widening demand jaw between sales and lettings.”

The Billingshurst-based firm provides 24-hour managed live chat services to 3,800 estate agent offices in the UK, handling more than 1.9 million chats per year.