Rightmove sees fifth of estate agents fail

Published 01st Mar 2009

More than a fifth of estate agencies went out of business last year, according to Rightmove, the property website.

Rightmove said there were early signs of a recovery in the market, however, with the return of near-record volumes of traffic among would-be housebuyers monitoring the falling market.

There were twice as many inquiries in January as the same month last year, marking the website’s third-highest monthly volume on record.

Ed Williams, chief executive, said: “Last year was unbelievably difficult but we think that the upturn in spend will happen earlier than many expect.”

There have also been signs of a decrease in the numbers of estate agents leaving the industry. As many as 300 of its estate agency members were leaving the website every month in the second half of last year owing to administration, which has fallen to about 150 in the first two months of this year.

In total, close to 3,500 of its estate agency members left the website last year, mostly because of trading difficulties. Rightmove said that prices were still falling, with average house prices 9.1 per cent down on February 2008, following a January decline of 7.3 per cent year-on-year.

Source: ' FT '

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