A survey by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has discovered that for every property that comes on to the market there are five interested parties.

The survey revealed that the average estate agent had 287 house hunters registered on its books in October, down by seven from September. They also registered a fall in the supply of properties with the average branch having only 57 available, which was down by five on September.

Gary Smith, NAEA’s president, said: “There is strong demand for property and more optimism in the housing market than we have seen for months. This is good news for the recovery of the market and for the UK economy in general.

“Many buyers are at the very beginning of the house buying process and this is creating a lack of properties in the short term. It is now up to the Government and the banks to do more to keep the momentum of market recovery going. A good place to start would be for the Government to extend the Stamp Duty holiday, which mainly affects first time buyers, and is currently scheduled to end in December.”

It also stated that the gap between the asking and selling prices had closed up from 10.9% in September to 8.8% in October.