The UK’s available housing stock has slumped by 40% since the start of the year, according to Propertymark.

The estate agent’s body says this has led to 19 buyers chasing each home on the market.

It adds, the number of properties selling for more than the asking price in June is the highest on record for the third month in a row.

In June, two in five, or 40%, of homes sold for more than the original asking price, a jump from May when 33% of properties sold for more than the original asking price.

Previously, April had posted the all-time high for homes selling above the asking price recorded by the body. 

The body says the number of properties available per member branch stood at 23 in June, falling from 25 in May. 

The average number of house hunters registered per estate agent branch stood at 426 in June, a jump decline from 506 in May, but in line with the previous month’s figure of 427 in April. 

The average number of sales agreed per estate agent branch fell slightly to 11 in June, from May’s figure of 12. 

The number of sales made to first-time buyers stood at 27% in June, which has remained at the same level since March. 

Propertymark chief executive Nathan Emerson says: “Sellers have seen the headlines about the huge demand and are nervous about joining the market and selling quickly with nowhere to go.”

The association says the nervousness among sellers is reminiscent of the 2008 market, following the financial crisis.

Emerson adds: “If you are serious about buying in the current market it’s all about being in a position to proceed. 

“Very few people can buy without selling, so having a buyer waiting gives you an edge over those you may be competing with. 

“If you wait to find a property before putting your house on the market, the likelihood is the property will already have been sold by the time you secure an offer. 

“It’s also important to remember that the average time being taken for a sale is around 16 weeks to exchange, that’s four months and the likelihood of not finding an onward property in that time is very small.”

Knight Frank head of UK residential research Tom Bill agrees that “demand has outstripped supply in most parts of the UK housing market this year”.  

“The combination of a lull following the stamp duty holiday and the summer break means one key indicator of demand reached its second-highest level in seven years in July,” says Bill in Knight Frank’s August Property Market Outlook.

However, Bill adds that the shortfall in supply is is “likely to reach its peak this summer”, and return to more normal levels in the autumn.

Bill says: “The first reason is the gravitational pull of demand, which has been undented by the end of the stamp duty holiday or pretty much anything else over the past year. 

“Most prospective sellers know this but it will crystallise decision-making as people return from their summer holiday.

“The number of UK exchanges in July was 21% below the five-year average, a number that is unsurprising given the scramble to complete in June.

“However, the number of new prospective buyers was 42% higher than the five-year average, showing how much demand remains in the system. 

“Meanwhile, the number of instructions to sell was down 28% over the same period, demonstrating how supply and demand headed in opposite directions in July.”

Bill says a second feature that will lead to a “creeping return of normality” will be the complete end of the stamp duty holiday in September. 

He says: “Some sellers were been put off by the frenetic pace of activity in the first half of this year and may now decide to act.

“In the real world, it means a sneaking sense that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.

“The emergence of Covid variants remains outside of anyone’s control but, as it stands today, more sellers should come forward once they have taken a summer holiday if they sense Covid is moving into the rear-view mirror.

“One final thought, as people return home and unpack: we expect double-digit annual growth to become single-digit growth by the end of the year. Sellers may benefit from more buoyant prices if they act sooner rather than later.”