The description “four-bed semi in Putney, southwest London” hardly evokes the image of that once-in-a-lifetime property you must snap up before someone else does. But these are strange times in the housing market.

When it went on sale last month at £750,000, the house, near Putney Heath, received 12 viewings on the first day and four offers the following week.

“It was sold to a chain-free buyer at the asking price and we exchanged within four weeks — which was extremely quick, as the buyer had to secure a mortgage,” says Chris Firth, director of Chesterton’s Putney office.

The Old Barn, a four-bedroom house in Wivelsfield, near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, was launched at the end of March at £550,000 and attracted 15 viewings within 10 days. It is now under offer for more than the guide price. Barn End, a three-bedroom house in Henley, Oxfordshire, had 30 viewings in the first two weeks after going on sale in January. After 14 bids, it exchanged for just under the £1.5m guide price.

Although attractive, such properties are far from extraordinary — there are just not enough of them on sale. While average prices are falling, a shortage of stock is hastening a return of phenomena reminiscent of the boom years: multiple viewings, competitive and sealed bids, even occasional cases of gazumping.

Take a reposssessed new-build flat at St George’s Wharf, southwest London. It was on the market for £435,000, and an investor had his bid of £375,000 accepted — only to be gazumped by someone who offered the asking price. Another investor offered £1.5m for a house in nearby Chelsea, on sale for £1.55m, even putting down a non- refundable deposit to seal the deal. He was trumped by a rival who offered the asking price, with an even bigger non-refundable deposit.

“Prime and even secondary London areas are seeing a lot of competition, nonrefundable deposits and examples of gazumping — particularly in the £800,000 to £3m range,” says Camilla Dell, managing director of the search agent Black Brick Property Solutions.

Figures from Savills estate agency show that London properties on its books attracted an average 5.9 viewings each last month, up from 3.7 last year. Outside the capital, the rise has been more modest, from 2.2 to 2.7. “According to our April agent survey, lack of stock in the prime markets is the biggest constraint on transaction numbers,” says Lucian Cook, the company’s director of residential research.

So how can you find what you want? The internet is a good place to start, but don’t forget your local estate agent, who will be aware of properties before they go on the web — and may know homeowners who might be tempted to sell, but have yet to commission a Home Information Pack. And try the lettings department: target “accidental landlords” who decided to let their properties when they couldn’t get the offer they wanted. They, too, might now be persuaded to sell.

Direct action — placing “wanted” adverts in the local paper and in shop windows, or asking around at schools, churches and other places where locals meet — can also be helpful. Last month, residents of Victoria Park, east London, received leaflets signed by a couple “in their thirties”, saying: “We are serious buyers, chain-free and mortgage-approved... In the absence of much being available via estate agents, we thought we would be proactive in reaching you directly.”

There are more high-tech solutions, such as propertyhat.co.uk — a social networking website for buyers and sellers, which also has the advantage of cutting out agents’ fees.

Some people are using buying agents, who source property for a fee, typically 1%-2%. Nicola Oddy, a Cornwall-based agent for Stacks Property Search, has had twice as many clients in the past two months as at the peak of the market. “If anyone decides to sell, the neighbours think something is wrong,” she says. “So they go straight to me and I match them to buyers.”

Once you’ve found the house, how do you make sure your offer is accepted? Remember simple things: turn up on time for viewings, don’t antagonise the vendor by haggling too aggressively, and be flexible with moving dates.

You should also make sure finances are lined up and your solicitor is on stand-by. “Sellers aren’t accepting offers where something could go wrong,” says Luke Wooster, managing director of Wooster and Stock, a southeast London agency. “They want offers chain-free and the preference is for cash buyers.”

What if the seller can’t decide whether to accept your offer? “One tactic we’ve adopted is to reduce it by a certain amount for every week they delay their decision,” says Philip Selway, managing partner of the Buying Solution, an upmarket consultancy.

How long the shortage will continue remains to be seen. For now, the market seems blocked: buyers want to get in at the bottom and demand discounts, but many vendors are reluctant to give them.

“It’s a stalemate,” Oddy says. “Buyers can’t buy for what they want, but aren’t prepared to pay more. They think sellers can still bring down the price. Whereas sellers know their property is the only one like it in the area, and aren’t prepared to lower prices further.”

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