Rightmove 'losing up to 300 estate agents a month'

Property website Rightmove today reported that up to 300 estate agents were quitting the service each month as they struggled to survive the property downturn.

The firm, which last month announced it was cutting 20% of its workforce, said its agency membership was now 1,900 lower than the 12,600 peak a year ago.

At least three out of every four that have left Rightmove have either gone bust or were removed for failing to keep up with membership fees, according to the site.

It said homebuyer enquiry levels had held up well, although it added property hunters were less active and actual sales remained "very low".

Rightmove's number of new homes advertised dived by 11% year-on-year, to 3,400 at the end of last month.

It said around 400 of the total was due to a decision by two major developers not to advertise on the service.

The troubles in the housebuilding and estate agency sectors left the site's total base of advertisers 9% down on last October, at 17,500.

Rightmove said the number of estate agents leaving the website had begun to slow from a peak in July, standing at 250 to 300 a month between August and October.

"The UK housing market continues to be challenging, with very low housing transaction volumes resulting in a significant number of estate agents leaving the market," it said.

Rightmove added: "At least three out of every four estate agents who have left Rightmove over the last year have either gone out of business or were removed for non-payment, which in practice is frequently a precursor to going out of business."

The firm announced last month that it planned to axe jobs to cut costs by £5 million to cope with the housing market slump.

But Rightmove believes its business is proving more robust than the wider property advertising market, which it estimates has halved over the past 15 months.

The group said it was receiving some support from a more buoyant rental market.

Letting-only agents advertising on the site continued to increase, up by a quarter on a year ago, to 2,900.

The site has also recently pushed through a 30% price hike for its rental service, which helped lift revenues per customer.