Rightmove’s shares soared by 28p to 3057 pence when its financial results for 2014 were announced. Revenues were up by 19 per cent to £167million (2013: £139.9m). Profit after tax was £96.8million, compared to 2013’s result of £97.02 million.

The company reported that it made an average of £684 per month from each estate agent branch that uses the service, up 13 per cent year-on-year.

In excess of 100 million people visited the Rightmove site in January, a record month for the property portal, acting as yet another indication that a growing number of house hunters are now starting their property search online.

Nick McKittrick (left), Chief Executive of Rightmove, said: “The outlook for the UK online property advertising market remains positive as consumers and customers become ever more digital and the market continues to shift from traditional advertising channels.”

Meanwhile, OnTheMarket (OTM) has accused Zoopla of becoming desperate as it loses ground in the online property portals war, after it issued a press release last week stating that it had received legal advice that the OTM portal and its member agents could face fines and claims for damages should some of its activities be declared to be infringing competition law by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Advice provided to Zoopla by law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP says that if the CMA at any time found an infringement of competition law, it could impose fines on each agency of up to 10 per cent of their total annual turnover.

However, Ian Springett (left), Chief Executive of OnTheMarket.com, described Zoopla’s speculative statement concerning Agents’ Mutual strategy’s one other rule requiring their member agents to stop advertising on either Rightmove or Zoopla, as mere scaremongering.

Springett called Zoopla’s announcement, “Yet another desperate attempt to intimidate agents into remaining with them when it is clear that many more are likely to leave them to join OnTheMarket.com during the coming year.”

Zoopla said that the number of estate agents and other property firms advertising on its websites has dropped by 11 per cent in the past year from 16,967 to 18,999 largely due to the recent launch of rival website, OTM.

By contrast, Rightmove state that “nearly every agent in the UK had chosen to remain on Rightmove”.

There are a record 19,304 agents on the Rightmove site, up 5 per cent since December 2013, Rightmove said.

Rightmove is set to launch a new app later this month that will help householders discover what their house will be worth within a 15 per cent estimated valuation range in five years’ time.