The perilous state of the housing market has proved an unexpected boon to Rightmove, the property website.

According to the company, desperate estate agents have been turning to the website to help them to complete sales.

Rightmove said in a trading statement yesterday that profit before tax was likely to be at the upper end of the forecast range, £29.3 million to £32.3 million, as much as 82 per cent up on last year’s pretax profit of £17.7 million.

About 90 per cent of British estate agents now subscribe to the website, which charges £325 per office to host adverts.

Despite nearly running out of estate agents, the company said it was confident it would be able to increase prices. This year has already seen prices raised 30 per cent, from £250.

In a sign that housebuilders are increasingly anxious about selling on new homes, there was a 39 per cent increase in the number of new-build developments signing up to the site. The 20 biggest housebuilders all now use Rightmove.

A spokesman for the company said: “The housing market isn’t doing very well, so people tend to think that Rightmove won’t be doing very well. But because agents are having to work harder to sell properties, they are putting their discretionary spending where they get the best returns.”

He added that Rightmove would be insulated from any downturn until the point that estate agents start shutting offices. Rightmove accounts for about 10 per cent of property advertising spending, with the majority going to the local press.

The update came as Bellway, one of Britain’s biggest builders, suggested it was weathering the storm better than its rivals as sales remained steady over the past six months. Persimmon, Redrow and Bovis Homes have all reported declines this year.

A Council of Mortgage Lenders survey this week showed that the number of new mortgages taken out fell to a seven-month low in November.

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