Online estate agents have been hit by the credit crunch as the number of people visiting their websites drops, according to new research.

Hitwise, an online internet researcher, said the amount of time spent visiting estate agents'' websites has dropped from 0.85 per cent of time spent on the internet by Britons to 0.55 per cent.

Meanwhile, the amount of time people spent visiting DIY retailers'' websites increased from 0.40 per cent of total time spent on the internet to 0.59 per cent.

The internet research firm said that searches for "houses for sale" had plummeted by 53.1 per cent between August 2007 and August of this year.

Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise, said: "One of the factors behind the success of house and garden retailers online has been the increase in online DIY queries as people look to improve their accommodation on a budget."

He added people are now more likely to do up their home than move house.

The second most popular internet search term at the moment is gastropub, according to Google Zeitgeist.

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