The number of people looking for a house jumped by 40 per cent in January,” as the stamp duty cut continues to encourage buyers,” according to NAEA Propertymark.

Its latest housing report says that in December the average number per estate agent branch stood at 348, which lifted to 487 last month.

Year-on-year, this is a 27 per cent increase from 382 in January 2020.

The report comes as The Times reports today that chancellor Rishi Sunak plans to extend the stamp duty holiday until the end of June.

NAEA Propertymark adds that in January a record 26 per cent of property transactions took over 17 weeks from the offer being accepted to exchanging contracts.

The average number of sales agreed per estate agent branch stood at 10 in January, an increase from eight from the previous month, according to the report.

This is the highest January figure since 2007, when an average of 13 sales were agreed per branch.

The report also shows that sales to first-time buyers remained the same at 23 per cent in January.

However, year-on-year, this is a decrease of six percentage points for these new buyers from 29 per cent in January 2020.

NAEA Propertymark chief policy adviser Mark Hayward says: “The number of house hunters hitting the market in January shows the stamp duty cut has continued to encourage buyers.

“However, with an average of 13 house hunters for every property on the market, there is simply not the supply to meet this level of demand.”

Hayward adds: “Separately, a record number of transactions are taking nearly four months to complete, however news today reveals the chancellor is preparing to extend the stamp duty holiday until June.

“We have continually lobbied government to rethink these timings and it is good news for the sector given how many sales would have fallen at the final hurdle as we approached the 31 March cliff edge.

“However, extending the holiday until June will create another cliff edge. We know from our own research that the majority of estate agents expect to see an increase in the number of failed sales if the stamp duty holiday ends at a cliff edge so we need government to consider a tapered end to the holiday so that buyers aren’t forced to pull out at the last minute and the property market can continue to thrive.”