Sales of UK homes reached their joint highest levels since 2007 in June, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) figures.

Some 109,580 transactions took place last month, which equals the total recorded for last November, making both of these months the strongest for house sales seen since November 2007.

The latest UK monthly sales total is 20% higher than the sales total for June 2013. The latest figures show that house sales in England, Scotland and Wales all increased compared with May, but in Northern Ireland they remained unchanged in June compared with the previous month, with 2,020 sales recorded.

Last month, some 93,690 house sales took place in England, marking a 5% month-on-month increase, 9,370 took place in Scotland, which is a 4% month-on-month jump and 4,500 were recorded in Wales, showing a 2% increase compared with May.

But the HMRC figures were released as estate agents warned that surging costs related to buying a home are a barrier to young people being able to get on the property ladder, despite the introduction of low deposit mortgage support schemes such as Help to Buy.

Just 3% of those buying property in June were aged between 18 and 30, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), marking the lowest it has ever recorded.

Mark Hayward, the NAEA managing director, said the situation is getting harder for first-time buyers, who face stumping up "ridiculously large sums of money in terms of deposits and stamp duty to be able to get on the ladder".