It is either the starting grid for the inaugural estate agents’ championship rally or a very sorry comment on the state of the housing market.

Here, parked up in a layby near Hampstead Heath, are no fewer than seven cars belonging to the agent Foxtons.

The photograph was taken at midday one day last week in West Heath Road.

Enlarge 

Parked-up: A row of estate agents' Minis sit outside Foxtons at midday

The casual observer might wonder why the distinctively customised Minis are not being used to ferry potential buyers to viewings in the area, which has seen some of the biggest rises in property prices in the capital in recent years.

Could it be that the market is now in such a parlous state due to the credit crunch that there are just not enough properties - or buyers?

Or is that Foxtons has gone green and all its agents go round by bicycle these days?

Whatever the reason - and it could be that our photographer simply caught them on a slow day — it does leave one question unanswered: what is the collective noun for estate agents’ cars?

A spokeswoman for Foxtons denied business was slow.