Home sales during the first 10 months of 2014 were at their highest level since the credit crunch began in 2007, according to research published today by Lloyds Bank .
Sales in England and Wales between January and the end of October last year were 21% higher than during the same period in 2013, with more than 750,000 transactions recorded.
But this represented a sales level of 27% below the boom period in 2007.
The biggest rise in sales last year was recorded in the East and West Midlands and the North-west, where transactions rose by around a quarter.
Greater London saw the smallest increase in the number of properties changing hands at 11%.
Andy Hulme, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank, said: "The recovery in the housing market continued in 2014 with sales rising further in almost all areas of the country. Low interest rates, improvements in the UK economy and Government schemes, such as Help to Buy, all appear to have contributed to the rise in home sales. Despite these improvements, sales both nationally and regionally are still significantly below their pre-recession levels."
Hulme added that there was a clear north-south divide when it came to the market recovery, with sales closer to their 2007 levels in the south.
In a handful of towns, however, sales were above their previous 2007 peak last year, Lloyds found.
In Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, transaction levels were 19% above their 2007 rate, while in Wallingford and Didcot in Oxfordshire, sales were 14% and 12% higher respectively.
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