Almost six in ten property purchases in London during the first quarter of this year were by buy-to-let investors or buyers of second homes – and many bought with cash.

London agent Marsh & Parsons says buy-to-let investors completed 36% of all its sales from January to March, up from 26% in the previous quarter, while buyers of second homes made up 23% of all purchasers.

Four in ten of all purchases in London were made by cash buyers.

David Brown, CEO of Marsh & Parsons, said: “Investors will always be the stalwarts of the Prime London property market – it’s the golden goose of capital returns, and people are still clamouring for a slice of the action.

“But second-home owners really jumped to it this spring too, and were much more prominent in the market than we would typically expect.”

Brown said people had hurried through their purchases before the Stamp Duty deadline on April 1, and that he expects “much more orderly transactions over the summer months, as the market rebalances”.