This was also a 5.2 per cent rise on January last year and a monthly increase of 4.1 per cent.
Transactions in January surpassed every month of 2019, as the number of residential transactions failed to break the 100,000 barrier for the whole year, peaking at 99,180 in March.
In total, for the year 2018-19, there were 1,192,390 residential completions across the UK.
Lack of supply to push prices
Mike Scott, chief property analyst at Yopa, said: “We expect that this increased demand for housing will lead to house price increases in the first half of this year, as it doesn’t seem to be matched by any significant increase in supply.
“We urgently need more properties for sale, so vendors who do come to market this spring have every chance of selling their home quickly, for a good price.”
Andrew Montlake, managing director of Coreco, added to this as he said many people were wary of a rebound in prices during 2020 and did not want to “miss their window”.
He added: “Given the performance of the property market in 2020 to date, they may well have played it right.”
Joseph Daniels, founder of Project Etopia, said: “The UK is finally exhibiting some get-up-and-go in terms of sales volumes.
“This is great news long term for first-time buyers and the wider house building industry, but it needs to be sustained. No flash-in-the-pan rise in sales volumes is going to fix the problem of low housing stock in Britain and these green shoots need to bloom into a lasting recovery.”
