Its house price index for April suggested the value of homes sold this year would amount to £461bn, 46 per cent higher than last year and a 68 per cent increase on 2019.
Zoopla said £149bn of homes had been sold subject to contract in the first 15 weeks of the year. It also expected activity “to remain elevated in H2, albeit not as high as towards the end of last year”.
Meanwhile, house prices in the UK rose annually to £228,300, a 4.1 per cent increase. However, this was a dip on the 4.7 per cent yearly increase seen at the start of the year.
Zoopla said the changes in property prices were being underpinned by an ongoing imbalance in supply and demand levels, with the stock of homes down 20.8 per cent in the year to mid-May compared with the same period in 2020.
It also said areas with more affordable homes were seeing the most growth. This was evidenced by London, which continued to be surpassed by other regions.
The capital reported a 1.9 per cent annual rise in property prices, while other areas saw increases of at least three per cent.
Wales saw the strongest boost in prices, at 6.3 per cent growth. This was followed by Yorkshire and Humber, where homes were 5.4 per cent more expensive than last year and the North West which saw a 5.3 per cent rise.
Nick Barnes, head of research at Chestertons, said: “April’s property market was boosted by March’s £35.6bn in mortgage lending — a record-setting level of mortgage activity that will have a snowball effect over the next few months.
“As a result, we will continue to see strong demand from property buyers in an already competitive market. Looking ahead, we expect market activity to level out slightly at the beginning of Q3 as we see the stamp duty holiday’s threshold dropping to £250,000 from 1st July.”
