The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is expected to say on Thursday that the surge in demand intensified last month.

It has been rising since November, when Chancellor George Osborne announced that duty on buy-to-lets will be raised by three percentage points in a bid to curb the booming sector.

The RICS will say 51 per cent of surveyors reported price hikes last month, compared with 49 per cent in January.

Investec economist Chris Hare said: “It was not difficult to see house price strength continuing into February, particularly as buy-to-let investors rush to buy before the new stamp duty surcharge comes into effect in April."

Elsewhere, yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of ultra-low interest rates.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee cut the base rate from 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent on March 5, 2009, as part of its response to the credit crunch-induced recession.

Last month Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned that rates could be cut further due to fears about a global economic slowdown.

Those fears culminated in the stock market crash at the start of the year. Bank shares in particular were hit, as fears about a new banking crisis grew.

However the past four weeks have seen markets rally and the FTSE 100 closed on Friday at 6,199.43, nearly recouping its losses for the year.

Bank shares have rallied and traders are increasingly positive about the sector.

According to data from social trading platform eToro, there has been a 45 per cent increase in traders betting on bank shares rising, with Lloyds Banking Group a particular attraction.

Yoni Assia, chief executive of eToro, said: “Our data shows a reverse in sentiment on banking stocks with traders on eToro moving from a sell to buy position in anticipation of a rise.”

www.express.co.uk