In Cornwall, where second home buyers account for a tenth of sales, the share of homes selling above asking price jumped from 11pc to 32pc. In Dorset, the proportion increased from 8pc to 27pc.

Oliver Fairchild, of Goadsby estate agents in Swanage, Dorset, noted a property near Corfe Castle that sold for £600,000 in 2020. “This year they resold the property, and it went for more than £100,000 over last year’s price.”

In Cornwall, average prices have jumped 15pc in a year. In the prime coastal locations such as Rock, Polzeath, Fowey, St Mawes and Porthleven, values have jumped by 40pc to 50pc since the start of the pandemic, Mr Clifford added.

“Will the market be like it is now in 12 months? Unlikely,” said Mr Cunliffe. “It feels like the people who wanted to buy have bought.”

The pace of the market over the last two years was unsustainable, he added. The boom pre-dated Covid and started in the summer of 2019, when Boris Johnson became leader of the Conservative Party.

Despite the effects of the unprecedented events of Covid, it is part of a wider market cycle, said Mr Cunliffe. “Over my career, the market has been hot for maybe two or three years at a time, and then it reverts to a quieter period for longer, maybe seven or eight years.”