The international estate agent reported a 28 per cent increase in requests to view rental properties over the past week.
At the same time, the firm said sales leads have increased by around 17 per cent.
More than 40 exchanges have happened over the past five weeks with sales activity higher than expected at the start of lockdown, Chestertons said.
In further signs of lettings activity rebounding, landlords appear to be preparing to bring properties to the market with a 28 per cent increase in virtual market appraisals and a 24 per cent increase in lettings instructions in the third week of April, compared to the second week.
Staff are returning to work from home and dealing with registration of new tenants and demand for virtual viewings.
Chestertons managing director Guy Gittins said: “Activity levels are understandably higher in lettings and we have therefore started the phased return of staff, beginning with lettings negotiators in areas of especially high demand, including Fulham, Islington and South Kensington.
“We hope to bring more back over the coming weeks in anticipation of a very busy summer for lettings.
“Sales activity has also been considerably higher than we anticipated at the start of lockdown and we have managed over 40 exchanges in the past five weeks.
“Enquiries are increasing every week, but while viewings are still restricted to video viewings only, we are focusing on progressing our large pipeline of agreed sales as quickly and smoothly as possible for our clients.”
