Rightmove holds firm amid the property market jitters

There were signs of life in the supposedly moribund housing market today when Rightmove unveiled a leap in half-year profits.

The UK's number one property website made £24.5 million in the six months to June, a 39% rise on a year ago.

This was thanks to the ever higher number of people using Rightmove to spark transactions. Traffic on the website grew 22% to 3.9 billion page impressions.

Managing director Ed Williams said: "Someone buying a home in the UK today is most likely to have first seen it on Rightmove."

The firm said it had its best March for buyer activity and that interest remained high during the summer, with trading continuing to grow over the last two months.

"This gives us grounds for confidence that revenue will continue on an upward path, given our underlying subscription model, and that our plans for 2011 will deliver further growth in the average spend per advertiser," said chairman Scott Forbes.

Nationwide said the average price of a UK property dropped 0.5% to £169,347 between June and July.

But that did not stop the number of advertisers at Rightmove growing by 7%. The average spent per customer is up 20% to £365 a month.

Rightmove shares were up 10p at 632p as investors applauded the figures.