Sales instructions outpaced 2015 levels from 2015 in the first two months of the year, Broker Conveyancing has reported.
Sales instructions outpaced 2015 levels from 2015 in the first two months of the year, Broker Conveyancing has reported.
It said sales instructions in January and February were up by a third (33%) from the same period in 2015, with purchase and remortgage instructions also rising by 62%.
In two separate weeks during February Broker Conveyancing saw the largest number of instructions ever received since its launch four years ago.
Harpal Singh (pictured), managing director of Broker Conveyancing, said: “There’s no doubting that activity has risen considerably during the first two months of the year and this is having a considerable impact on conveyancing firms with a great deal of pressure being placed on them to complete transactions pre-stamp duty deadline.
“As expected, in the past few weeks especially, we have seen conveyancing firms looking at resources and prioritising certain cases because of the artificial deadline that has been set which has skewed the marketplace. While it is buy-to-let purchases leading these developments, it’s also the case that other purchases within those chains have been dragged into this and with the pre-Easter rush already in full effect we are seeing a considerable amount of ebb and flow in the market."
Month-on-month February instructions were 27% up on the previous month, with the breakdown consisting of: sale instructions up 44%; purchase instructions up 25%; and remortgage instructions up 27%.
