It's clear the housing market has strengthened in recent weeks. The RICS UK Residential Market Survey for March shows sales market activity picking up sharply over the month, with indicators on enquiries, sales and new instructions all improving markedly.

This is at least in part due to the extension of the stamp duty holiday, however the data suggests improving economic sentiment is playing a significant role.

The number of homes put under offer soared by 30% in March, according to Knight Frank's analysis of OnTheMarket data. The £500,000 to £1 million price bracket experienced the biggest increase (57%) followed by the £1 million to £1.5 million bracket (40%). Below £500,000, the band in which the stamp duty holiday creates the largest saving, the increase was just 26%, suggesting buyers are looking beyond the tax break.

All this is likely to continue for at least twelve months, according to the RICS survey respondents. A net balance of +60% of contributors nationally anticipate higher prices in a year’s time, an increase on +46% returned in February. That's feeding into improving product choice in the mortgage market, which is now back to 81% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Moneyfacts.

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