Online estate agent Emoov is preparing to call in administrators in a final attempt to save its business.

It's thought that a pre-pack administration could be announced today, as reported by Sky News.

And it could leave investors including Richard Desmond, the former Daily Express and Channel 5 owner, facing seven-figure losses.

The move towards a possible insolvency process comes less than six months after Emoov completed a three-way merger with Tepilo and Urban, the online lettings group. The plan was that the deal would lead to a stock market flotation before the end of the year.

The outlook for the UK housing market isn't clear - with the Bank of England forecasting a 30 per cent fall in residential property prices in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Countrywide, Foxtons and Purplebricks have all seen their value decline sharply in recent months. But Purplebricks is still expanding and last month it confirmed the purchase of a stake in Homeday, a German online estate agent, taking it into the European market for the first time.

Punchline said: "It just goes to show that it takes more than a website to build a business. The online estate agents have been on the rise for some time, but could this be the first indication that the bubble has burst? Buying and selling houses is a very emotional process and the face-to-face customer service from a high street estate agent can provide the support you don't get online."