Land Registry figures suggest the property market was far from dormant in June.

The Government property register processes 1.4m applications in the month, up 500,000 on May and only just over 200,000 on June last year.

The South East topped the table of regional applications with 336,000. Greater London figured next with 268,000 applications while the North (68,000 applications), East Anglia (61,000) and Wales (57,000) were last on the list.

Of the top five local authority areas, City of London and Birmingham remained top throughout the three months April to June – with 21,000 application apiece in June. But Leeds, Manchester and Cornwall showed greater increases in activity, with Leeds applications increasing from 10,000 to 17,000, Manchester from 9,000 to 14,000, and Cornwall from 8,000 to 14,000.

Most applications (763,000) were for official copies of register entries, but 309,000 were for registry updates – up 140,000 on May.