Falling property sales across the country as well as in the capital city of London has led to painful erosion in the amount of profit for Countrywide, UK’s biggest estate agency chain. Countrywide saw pre-tax profit fall from more than £47m in the year 2015, to less than £20m last year. This points directly to a slowdown in the housing market and concern for other estate agencies as well.

The agency described last year as “unprecedented” pointing an accusatory finger at the Brexit vote combined with a new stamp duty for landlords and high-end homes. These factors led to a volatile residential property market and fewer sales. It has also led to a forecast including more of the same for this year.

As sales figures have shrunk over time, Countrywide boosted the number of properties under management by almost 15%. This, in addition to cutting cost represents a major change to Countrywide’s business model.

Alison Platt, chief executive, commented on the changes taking place, saying: "When we got to the third quarter, we saw the market wouldn't help us so we needed to focus on self-help.

"The results have been better than anticipated, such as with the roll-out of the digital proposition across the estate agency business. By January it was evident that we needed to accelerate that because it was a great opportunity."

In contrast, lenders are finding remortgage activity to be quite strong. This has overwhelmingly been the case since interest rates were cut last year. Lenders are in a feverish competition to find the next client. UK house owners are finding attractive deals and saving significant amounts off the cost of the monthly mortgage payment.