Sales in the property market for the year ended April at just under 890,000.

Analysis of Land Registry figures by London Central Portfolio (LCP) for the 12 months to April showed there were 889,284 transactions across England and Wales.

Excluding London, there were 800,091 sales in England and Wales, down 0.3% annually and a 6.5% fall on a quarterly basis.

There were 85,898 sales in greater London, 26% lower than just before the EU Referendum in June 2016 and down 4.6% annually.

The number of transactions in prime central London (PCL) fell 16% annually to 3,295.

LCP said PCL transactions are at record lows but the greater London and England and Wales analysis shows the numbers are broadly in line with sales data from previous years.

There were 791,951 sales recorded in England and Wales in 2018, while the last low was 555,735 in 2009.

Naomi Heaton, chief executive of LCP, said: “Annual transactions are stuttering with a sizeable drop of 6.5% over the quarter and 0.3% annually.

“These figures will not come as a surprise, with Rightmove recently reporting that 28% of listings have sat on the sales market for more than six months.”