February saw an uplift in the share of sales to first-time buyers as well as an increase in the proportion of properties achieving more than their original asking price, according to NAEA Propertymark.

One in nine properties sold for more than their asking price in February, which was the highest share since August last year. 

At 11 per cent, the proportion of properties achieving more than their listing price was the highest share recorded in the month of February for five years, the estate agency trade body found.

However, a majority of 57 per cent of properties sold for less than the original asking price.

The share of sales made to first-time buyers rose to 25 per cent in February, from 23 per cent in January.

This is the highest figure recorded since July 2020 and was up from 22 per cent in February 2020.

While the average number of prospective buyers registered per estate agent branch decreased by 20 per cent from 487 in January to 388 in last month, it was nonetheless the highest figure recorded for the month of February since 2017, when the figure stood at 425.

The number of transactions taking over 17 weeks from the offer being accepted to exchanging contracts, increased again to 27 per cent from 26 per cent last month – the highest figure on record.

The average number of sales agreed per estate agent branch stood at 11 in February, an increase from 10 in January.

Year-on-year, this figure is up from nine sales agreed per estate agent branch in February 2020 and seven sales agreed per estate agent branch in February 2019.

The average number of properties available per member branch stood at 34 in February, down from 38 in January.

Propertymark chief policy adviser Mark Hayward says: “It’s interesting to see that one in nine properties sold for more than the original asking price in February.

“Over the past few months, we have witnessed a boom in the number of prospective buyers and the number of sales taking place following the government’s announcement of a stamp duty holiday, and so it seems many buyers are willing to pay over the asking price in order to secure their dream home.

“We are also seeing a record high for the number of transactions taking more than 17 weeks from the offer being accepted to exchanging contracts due to this unusually high demand for property. 

“This is one of the reasons we campaigned for an extension to the stamp duty holiday; to prevent sales falling through due to delays in the chain.”