Home sales spiked by 21% in the six months to September 2013, the biggest increase in the past decade.
There were 396,756 house sales in England and Wales during the period, the highest year-on-year increase in a decade, according to new figures from Lloyds Bank.
The property sales are still 41% below the market peak of 673,699, seen during the six months to September 2006.
The positive pattern was reflected across the country, with a 23% rise in activity in both the North West and East Midlands.
The lowest rise was 19% in the North East.
Overall, 98% of towns saw a rise in sales during the period, up from just 26% in 2012.
In the North, West Midlands, Wales and London, 100% of towns in the survey recorded an increase in home sales.
But even lowest recorded rise, in Yorkshire and the Humber, was a robust 93%.
The South East saw sales exceed 100,000 in the six months from March to September for the first time since 2007.
Newham in east London saw the largest increase in home sales with a 62% rise, followed by Redhill in Surrey, where transactions increased by 56%.
Marc Page, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank, said: "Since spring 2013 housing activity in England and Wales has been on the rise, with home sales in the six months to September up by over one-fifth compared to the same period a year earlier.
"This increase is the strongest in over a decade.
"In addition, the number of towns in the survey recording an increase in transactions has grown over three times compared to the same period in 2012.
"Low interest rates, improvements in consumer confidence and government schemes, such as Help to Buy, all appear to have contributed to the rise in home sales."
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