The London housing market continued to strengthen in April, with Chestertons reporting 65% more buyer enquiries, 75% more sales agreed and 90% more sales completed than in April 2019.

These findings support HMRC’s latest figures, which show record transactions numbers in March across the UK – up 93% from 2019.

With the first lockdown effectively closing the property market throughout April 2020, year-on-year comparisons are misleading, so Chestertons has compared figures from 2019 to give a better idea of the relative strength of the market.

Aside from strong demand from property purchasers, Chestertons has brought 43% more new properties onto the market in April than it did in 2019, which has maintained a good balance between supply and demand and allowed prices to stabilise.

Cory Askew, head of sales at Chestertons, said: “The London property market is riding a wave of momentum that started after the first lockdown was released in summer last year and has been sustained by the government’s stamp duty holiday and increasing consumer confidence off the back of the success of the vaccination programme.

“After taking a bit of a hit last year, prices in central London have mostly bottomed out and are starting to recover in many areas as buyers look to take advantage of the current situation.

“The prime central London market, which had been trailing outer regions of London in terms of activity, has also seen a surge in new deals agreed.

“Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Kensington and South Kensington have collectively recorded a 50% increase in new agreed deals in April as compared to the same periods in 2019 and 2018. This is a remarkable statistic given the relative scarcity of international buyers in circulation. As travel restrictions ease, we anticipate even greater competition amongst buyers in London’s premier postcodes.”