HOME-seekers in Southampton are in for a surprise as they search for their dream house - an estate agent's window that talks to them.

City estate agent Mews has become the first in Britain to install and operate the Windowtalk interactive talking window system.

In Mews' window at London Road in Southampton, each set of property details has an individual number written on it.

Home-hunters tap that number on to a pad through Mews' window to hear a message telling them more about that individual property.

They are then invited into the estate agent's office or can leave their phone number for the agent to contact them the next day.

Mews director Andrew Webb said: "The beauty of the system is it fits in with our 24 hour/seven day a week society.

"It tells potential buyers or renters more about the properties whenever they want to hear it - and allows them to leave their phone number so we can contact them to arrange a viewing or give them more information.

"At Mews we are always looking for ways to improve the service to our clients and Windowtalk will help us do exactly that.

"We expanded into larger premises in London Road just two months ago and this addition moves our business forward yet again."

The directors of Mews moved quickly to become Britain's first Windowtalk operator when they learned that if they installed the system none of their local competitors could.

Windowtalk director John Quinn said: "Windowtalk is marketed on an exclusive basis - it's not a me-too product. It allows an ambitious and go-ahead agency like Mews to differentiate themselves from their competition by offering home-sellers and buyers, landlords and renters, a service their competition cannot."

Windowtalk is now rolling out its system across the country from its new offices in Hamble.

Mr Quinn added: "More than 3,000 systems have been installed worldwide and when I saw the system while on holiday in Canada late last year I knew immediately it would be a big hit in the UK."