The conveyancing market did not really get going until the third quarter of this year.

The months of July to September proved the busiest for total transaction volumes, says a new report this morning.

The market tracker, from Search Acumen, shows 273,322 transactions in quarter three, up from 230,430.

The tracker finds that the top 1,000 conveyancing firms – which carry out three in every four residential transactions – saw average numbers grow 20% from the second quarter to the third.

Across the rest of the market, conveyancers saw a 15% rise in the number of transactions.

The tracker confirms that there was a very slow start to the housing market this year.

The top 1,000 conveyancers experienced a drop in volumes of 16% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the last quarter of 2014.

In quarter two, transactions fell further, down 4% for the top 1,000.

The top five conveyancing firms saw transactions bounce up 26% in quarter three.

Mark Riddick, chairman of Search Acumen, said: “The conveyancing market returned to life with a vengeance in the third quarter of 2015, not only recording the highest quarterly volumes this year, but also peak third-quarter figures since the market awoke from its post-recession slump.”

He added that after a slow start to 2015, conveyancers now have greater hope of hitting their targets by the end of this year.