I hate it when these surveys get put into the public domain,they are normally done by one morgage provider based normally on their own stats and not through a mass national survery of house prices,house prices overall have not fallen,some areas have fallen by a rate not even considered significant and some have still risen by around 4%.

When consumers see this they dont realise the full story,panic thinking their house is gonna lose value and put their own house on the market,and the more houses for sell,the cheaper house prices generally are.

Manchester is a prime example of rising property prices due to all the new and expensive houses and flats that being built in area like east manchester ,the less than average consumer struggles to get a house on a less than average morgage under 100k,you really have to be a sitting council tenant now qualifying for a right to buy discount,it wasnt like this 4 years ago and the problem is getting worse and worse,otherwise all you would get for less than 100k is a flat or a rundown house in wild west areas like moss ride .

The goverment keep banging on about what they are doing about building more so called affordable housing,the truth is they are merely paying lip service to the problem.

Hmmm,

Not convinced. House prices didn't fall - just expectations got re-adjusted in line with the current economic climate. Pre-Christmas buying is notoriously slow but the ill-advised compulsory HIP stupidity mixed with the US sub-prime lunacy has led to us all acting like sheep.

Sure, we have a credit issue that needs to be addressed and there are a load of mortgage holders who should never have been allowed to have that level of credit extended to them, but that's the greed of the lenders for you. Many property sellers will be holding back, consolidating their positions before embarking on an expensive sales process and many first-time buyers will be priced out of the market either through inaccessible mortgage products or lack of credit history.

All of this is an 'adjustment' to massive prices that have been frankly verging on the ridiculous anyway.

If this non-crisis forces people into managing their personal finances better then roll on the crisis! I was always taught not  to buy something until I could afford it. The only exception to that rule was when buying your home and then I was taught that you use 1/3rd of your salary for the mortgage, 1/3rd for living expenses and 1/3rd for savings. Result, I have a home, no debt (other than the mortgage) and I know to the £1 what is in each account. I am doing nothing that I was not taught when I was a very little shark.

SHARK!