Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s rumoured six-week extension to the Stamp Duty holiday deadline would help up to 160,000 sales transaction get over the line, it has been estimated, but cost HM Treasury £1 billion in lost duty.

Rightmove says this is a conservative estimate based on previous HMRC transaction volumes.

But more important politically for Sunak, a six-week extension would mean anyone who made as successful offer on a property before the end of last year would now likely to complete in time.

There are an estimated 412,000 sales still currently in the legal process that were agreed last year across Great Britain.

The portal also reckons that if Sunak sticks to his tax guns and these transactions reach the cliff-face on 31st March, then hundreds of thousands of buyers will lose out, no doubt making their disappointment known in the press and social media.

Rightmove’s property expert Tim Bannister (pictured), says: “We know the Stamp Duty holiday was intended as a temporary stimulus for the market.

“But the delays we’ve seen in the home-moving process have been through no fault of the buyers and sellers who agreed a sale last year and who are now desperately trying to get their deals over the line,”.

Tim Balcon (pictured), CEO of Propertymark, says his organisation has been lobbying government intensely on the issue and that agents’ desire to see an extension ‘is being heard’.

“If you boil this down a bit then it’s all about our members trying to get their customers into their new homes, and that’s where people are feeling the strain.”