As many as 1,300 estate agents’ offices went out of business in the first six months of the year. This number is expected to rise sharply as the downturn in the UK housing market continues to deepen, according to Rightmove, the property website.

Rightmove, the UK’s number one property portal, saw a big increase in the number of estate agents leaving the site, which it blamed almost entirely on companies going bust because of the housing downturn.