Property activity picked up in January as sales registrations increased for the first time in two months, Land Registry data suggests.

Price Paid data from the Land Registry shows 108,842 residential sales were registered in January.

This is up from 70,943 in December and 99,385 in November.

It is also up 20% on January 2017.

The figure for January this year is bumped up to 116,795 when you include commercial sales.

Due to the time delay in processing registrations, some of these sales may have actually taken place in November and December but the Land Registry said 25,527 residential and commercial sales took place in January itself.

Of the 116,795 sales received for registration in January, 499 were of residential properties in England and Wales for £1m and over.

The most expensive residential sale taking place in January was a semi-detached property in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for £37.7m.

The cheapest residential sale was a terrace property in Burnley, Lancashire, for £15,000.