Estate agents are calling for an extension to the stamp duty holiday as thousands more queue to complete before the clock runs down.

Surging demand in the UK housing market has left an extra 140,000 buyers in the queue to finalise their home purchase, as the rush to beat the deadline on a temporary stamp duty holiday causes bottlenecks in the buying process.

About 418,000 sales are in the pipeline — compared with 280,000 at this point last year — for homes worth £112bn, according to Zoopla.

Agents have called on the chancellor to extend or taper the scheme to avoid a cliff edge.