HBOS today sold-off its entire 13.1 per cent shareholding in Rightmove just weeks after the property website warned that rising estate agent closures would have an "adverse impact" on the business.

HBOS, one of the four founding shareholders in Rightmove alongside Countrywide, Connells, which is part of Skipton Building Society and Royal & Sun Alliance, sold 16.2 million shares and raised £59.2 million, just two years after the company floated on the London Stock Exchange.

The move surprised investors today, who sent shares in the company down 5.06 per cent, or 19.5p, to 366p in early trading - just 9.2 per cent above the group's float price when it made its market debut in March 2006.

A spokesman at HBOS, which held the shares through its Halifax Estate Agencies business, says it will still have a close commericial relationship with Rightmove, but will no longer hold shares in the group.

Rightmove announced the secondary share placing as it emerged that Humberts, one of England's largest estate agents, suspended trading "pending clarification of its financial position". The chain, part owned by property entrepreneur Vincent Tchenguiz, said it was "investigating a potential restructuring".

The surprise share placing follows a downbeat trading statement issued by Rightmove earlier this month, when it admitted that its retention rate of real estate agents advertising on its site had fallen from 92 per cent last year to 85 per cent in 2008.

While the company said it was "confident" about meeting market expectations for the year, it admitted: "If housing market problems result in a decline in the number of estate agents over a protracted period, together with a decline in the number of new developments commenced and a switch among small developers to the use of estate agents, then there will be an adverse impact on the Rightmove business."

Yesterday, it emerged that the number of new house builds in the UK fell by 24.4 per cent to 32,144 in January to March on the first quarter last year, and shrank by 21.5 per cent compared to the final three months of 2007.

This week, Barratt Developments, Britain's second largest house builder, warned on profits after reservations for its new homes fell by half and an increasing number of buyers pulled out of purchases.

The value of Barratt's book of forward orders, which includes reservations and exchanges on house purchases, fell by 26 per cent on the £2.1 billion booked this time last year.

Last month, Persimmon, Britain's biggest housebuilder, said it would stop building homes on new sites until mortgage conditions improve after revealing that sales from January to March had fallen by 24 per cent.

Rival housebuilders have also disclosed falling order numbers. Taylor Wimpey recently admitted that its forward order book had fallen by 26 per cent, and Redrow reported a 34.5 per cent fall in first-half profits and gave warning of worse to come.

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