Government figures show that stamp duty transactions in Q4 2020 were 43 per cent higher than in Q3 2020.

Total transactions were thus 14 per cent higher in the final quarter of 2020 than they were in the final quarter of 2019.

“The increase in transactions have likely been impacted by the introduction of the SDLT holiday for residential properties, alongside the continued release of pent up demand within the property market since March 2020,” says HMRC.

Broken down by property type, residential property transactions in Q4 2020 were 44 per cent higher on a quarterly basis and non-residential property transactions were 26 per cent higher on a quarterly basis.

And receipts grew quarterly too – by 47 per cent. However, this also means that they were 16 per cent lower when compared to Q4 2020.

“The change in receipts will have mainly been impacted by the introduction of the stamp duty land tax holiday,” says HMRC.

Receipts for residential property in Q4 2020, meanwhile, were 33 per cent higher quarterly but 22 per cent lower than in Q4 2019.

HMRC adds that, in terms of first-time buyers, since it relief was introduced in November 2017, the estimated amount of relief comes to £1.3bn across 540,900 claims.