Although it was the highest demand seen for any October, this was still down on the average of 525 prospective buyers per branch in September.
Housing supply fell during October, from 41 available properties per branch to 39 and seven per cent of these sold for more than the asking price.
The increased demand was not beneficial to most sellers however, as 58 per cent went for less than the original asking price.
Sales agreed
The housing report also recorded the highest number of average sales agreed since 2006, at 12 per estate agent branches, a slight fall from 14 in September.
Annually, this was a 50 per cent increase from eight sales agreed per branch in October of both 2019 and 2018.
More sales were made to first-time buyers in October, accounting for 21 per cent of transactions compared to 19 per cent in September.
However, considering the high risk environment with a lack of low deposit lending options, this resulted in a six per cent fall from October last year.
Mark Hayward, chief executive of NAEA Propertymark, said: “Typically, we see the property market slow down as we approach the festive period and people put their sale on hold until the new year.
“However, the pressure of completing sales ahead of the stamp duty holiday ending means that we have seen the number of potential buyers and the number of sales completed remain unusually high for this time of year.”
He added: “This boom has been hugely beneficial for the housing market; however, we are increasingly concerned about the impact of the stamp duty cliff edge on 31 March 2021.
“This cliff edge has already increased pressure on service providers within the industry, causing delays for buyers and sellers, and could cause thousands of sales to fall through at the final hurdle as buyers realise their sale will not be completed ahead of the deadline.”
