Stressed-out estate agents are struggling to keep up with the thirst for property in Gloucestershire.

Requests for family homes in the UK are more than twice as high as usual for this time of year, according to a report by Zoopla.

And agents here said the pressure is on as they try to cope with fierce competition for properties and a lack of stock.

Despite a 3.5 per cent increase in homes for sale in March, the number of properties going onto the market is not keeping pace with demand.

The stock of homes available to buy is now 42 per cent below the five-year average, compared to being 47 per cent down in December last year. And while supply levels will build, it will not be enough to reverse the imbalance between demand and supply in 2022, according to Zoopla's monthly House Price Index.

Angharad Trueman, managing director of CGT Lettings, which has five branches across Gloucestershire, said: "We are still experiencing record-high levels of demand from prospective buyers and tenants.

"The team are having to deal with hundreds of enquiries for each available property and often buyers or tenants can be rude or antisocial when they miss out on an available property which causes high levels of stress amongst staff.

"The situation is unrelenting as stock levels remain lower and demand continues to rise".

The number of sales agreed in Q1 were 38 per cent higher than the same period in 2020, said the Zoopla report. This high level of activity is driving up prices, with average home values in the UK up 8.1 per cent on the year, an increase from 4.2 per cent last February. The average home now has a market value of £245,200.

George Tatham-Losh, director at Move Sales & Lettings which has offices in Cheltenham and Gloucester, said: "We struggle to meet both purchaser and rental demand. This continues to drive prices in an upwards only fashion. Sealed bids have become the norm, with multiple offers on 99% of newly listed stock."

This sellers market has seen UK house prices growing in March at the fastest rate for 17 years, according to a report by the Guardian. It said Nationwide figures showed the price of an average home is now a fifth higher than at the start of the pandemic.

Prices rose by 14.3 per cent in the year to March, the biggest increase since the November 2004 housing boom which followed the financial crisis.

The pressure comes as estate agents try to recover from the pandemic, when many companies had to cut back staff.

Anthony Stick, director of sales and lettings at Belvoir Gloucester, said: "It's very competitive. Most employees are pretty stressed out because there is a lack of team members because everyone had to cut down because of the risks during the pandemic."