More than one in three home buyers check in with estate agencies at least once a day when trying to tie up a deal, says new research for the Nottingham Building Society.

It also found that the average home buyer registers with three estate agent offices and/or online services, and 12% have signed up with five or more.

Around 72% of home owners admit to regularly looking at houses for sale and prices in their area even if they are not actively planning to sell or buy.

Most people researched the market by looking at prices via websites (65%); 41% by looking in estate agents’ windows; 26% registered with local agents; and 25% picked up details from agents.

None of this should come as much of a surprise to agents, but what might come as one is that 40% “registered with national online estate agents”.

What? Surely not.

We asked for clarification.

Back came the answer: Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket.

We have pointed out the error, which is a bit worrying given that the Nottingham also runs a large high street estate agency business and should know the difference between a portal and a national online estate agent.

However, in case you read this elsewhere (the story has already achieved coverage), just bear in mind that it is portals that prospective buyers register with.

It is interesting, though, that 41% of buyers start their property search by looking in high street windows – slightly more than those who register for alerts from the portals.

If, of course, you can trust the research.