Shares in Rightmove, Britain's biggest property website, yesterday leapt by 20 per cent in its initial public offering (IPO) on the London stock market.

Conditional dealings, which began during the morning, reached a peak of almost 397p per share - valuing the company at around £500 million (€725 million) - before the price dropped back to around 13 per cent above the 335p issue cost.

The indicative range of 275p-335p was increased from 240p-315p earlier this month.

Some Irish property sites are believed to be up for sale at present, including myhome.ie. This is owned by several Irish estate agencies. Media reports have also suggested that daft.ie is also for sale.

Myhome.ie has been the subject of takeover rumours for several years, but sources caution that a sale is only one of several options being studied as part of a review.

Shares in Rightmove are believed to have been around 35 times oversubscribed, with investors hoping to take advantage of potential growth following the introduction of home information packs, which will become compulsory next year.

"It was a very popular IPO," a Rightmove spokesman said. "The book was well covered."

The offer of 22.7 million shares accounts for 18 per cent of the company. Existing investors such as Countrywide, HBOS and Connells all retained stakes of slightly more than 20 per cent each, with Royal Sun Alliance holding around 5 per cent.

Rightmove, which was launched in February 2000, says it attracts 10 million visitors a month. - (Guardian service)