The number of homes sold at auction has risen by almost two thirds in the past month as buyers have packed salerooms in the hope of bargains.

In a further sign that homebuyers believe the housing market may be at or close to the bottom, Countrywide Property Auctions said that 79 per cent of all homes going under the hammer in the first two weeks of June had been sold, compared with 49 per cent in the same period last year.

However, those hoping to profit from a flood of cheap repossessed properties on the market may be disappointed: the number of repossessions for sale at auction has fallen by 43 per cent in the past year.

Separate figures from the Essential Information Group (EIG), the auction website, showed a decline in the number of repossessed lots to 954 in the second quarter of this year, down from 1,674 in the same period of 2008.

Chris Coleman-Smith, head of auctions for Savills, the estate agent, said: “This is different to the late Eighties and early Nineties, when there was an avalanche of repossessed properties in the auction rooms. This time there was a bit of an initial rush, then it tailed off.”

David Sandeman, managing director of EIG, said: “Repossessions have just not been appearing. Auctioneers are really struggling for these lots. It is either that there are fewer households being repossessed or that lenders are keeping them with agents in the hope of a sale that way instead.”

The fall in repossessed lots coincides with a drop in the amount of stock on display in estate agents’ windows. Economists have cited the lack of supply as a cause of the slight rise in house prices recorded in the past few months. Nationwide reported yesterday that prices had risen by 0.9 per cent in June.

Properties sold at auction are fetching 10 to 12 per cent more than their reserve prices (the lowest amount that the seller is prepared to accept). Housing market analysts say that low interest rates have enabled some financially stretched borrowers to stay in their homes for longer.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has revised its total repossessions forecast for 2009 from 75,000 to 65,000.