PROPERTY website Rightmove today reported a rise in annual profits and said estate agency membership continued to grow.
Rightmove’s underlying operating profits were up 2% to £41.9 million as cost cutting in 2008 helped offset a 6% fall in revenues, which reflected challenging trading conditions at the start of 2009.
The firm has pushed through price rises in recent weeks after the number of advertising estate agents grew by 6% last year.
Despite building society Nationwide reporting the first drop in house prices for 10 months in February, Rightmove gave a bullish outlook as it said membership numbers "continue to grow at rates similar to the second half".
The website faces the potential threat of competition from the likes of Google after the Office of Fair Trading said in a report last week that it wanted to open up the market to online alternatives to traditional estate agents.
However, Rightmove managing director Ed Williams said any relaxation of the law to allow greater competition would be at least two years away, if passed at all by Government.
"We still think that the British public are pretty unlikely to go for the private sale by owner route," he added.
