I am surprised, that people really think that prices coming down will help the first time buyer.When we can see quite clearly mortgages, are becoming very hard to get.Look at Fanny Mae, USA's biggest provider in the dumps.This will have a knock on effect.Housing is short I see rents going up.

Amir, leicester, leicestershire

Buying a house is always an investment; buying anything that fluctuates in price is an investment. Many who invested in the last couple of years are realizing that they have made a big error of judgment. I fear they don't even have an inkling of the meaning of the expression 'negative equity' yet.

Chris, London,

Wasn't it Gordon Brown who told us that he would end boom and bust economics. We are at the beginning of a long running period of bust economics. The net outcome of this is that the penny will finally drop and working people will realise that it is not in their interests to vote Labour!

Costas, Cyprus,

Samantha, the people with negative equity will just have to live with it (as when the market crashed last time); most of these recent buyers *are* 'investors' not 'homeowners'.

If I borrowed £20k to buy a Ford Fiesta and then found I couldn't sell it for the half of that would I deserve sympathy?

Paul, Coventry,

with reference to
samantha tunrbridge wells
noboby has ever bothered what happened to first time buyers before,now its going our way for once in years nobody likes it.bring on the price crash

mick, yorkshire,

When the market hits the bottom it will allow first time buyers back in. Their pent-up demand will then regenerate growth and those who lost out will be forgotten. Then the whole sorry process will start again.

What the government needs to do is organise/subsidise low-cost public sector housing.

Daniel, London, UK

You will find that while property prices are falling, the cost of building materials are not - just check with your local building merchants. So for all of you taking pleasure from the plight of developers, they are also stuck between rising costs (ie inflation out of control!) and low sales

Emer, Portsmouth, UK

Scandalous, if not insane-a properties true/correct value is irrespective to whatever the "sales freebie",one thing if you're a gullible cash buyer but not if you need a mortgage/loan! Irresponsible greed/fraud/profiteering and 1 reason why the bubble has burst, not before time.Sandcastles.

Ken, Hautes-Pyrénées, France

everyone is saying 'wait to buy as there will be great bargains to grab'. But what about the homeowners/sellers - the ones that bought in the last 2 years - their equity could be down to zero, or even worse running into negative equity. Win win for first timers or investors but not for others.

Samantha, Tunrbidge Wells,, Kent

In France, to get a residential mortgage, you need a minimum deposit of 30%, a 'stable' income (i.e. you need to have had a permanent job fo more than 3 years) and a 'high enough' income. Your deposit makes up 80% of the value of the property but you don't have a good job: no deal!

LN, Bristol,

AGAIN - Where is my US style tax rebate!? I need it now!

Glynn, Kingston,

How about we take the accommodation off their hands for nothing that they are desperate to get rid of and we will give them a flash car for free. We can even throw in a full tank.

John McCarthy, London, england

Just a little time longer for this to run out, then the Government through the Local Authorities will bring in the Compulsory Purchase Act and all will be saved.

Where are the statements from Housing Minister Caroline Flint MP to bring a solution - Yes there is a solution - Windfall Sites.

john, colchester, uk

The more Estate Agents I see begging on the streets the harder I will laugh. They deserve it and hope they dont earn any commission for next 5 years at least.

Alex Haines, London, UK

Brilliant idea. Buy yourself into instant negative equity in one of the most faddish areas in the country (looong way to fall) and add a further liability in the form of a hugely inefficient car which runs on a commodity which is increasing in value as rapidly as your -ve equity!

Rich, London, UK

Now that the Its different this time, prices will never go down... myth is well and truly discredited people are unwilling if not unable to purchase mediocre properties for 11x avg incomes. (250K GBP)

In todays economic climate asking prices are a joke. New builds need to see a 40% reduction.

A Harris, Kettering, UK

Funny how the developers weren't complaining when the prices were going up! They should've helped themselves by keeping the prices low. The price of building homes hasn't changed that much over 15 years!
Developers should have been the first to see prices can't stay high - All down to greed

Mark Waddell, Redditch,

FTB - priced out a long time ago
Negative equity - not bad if you can afford the home mortgage, these things are cyclical. The value of property can go up as well as down
Distorting market with various government home ownership schemes doesn't help
Better tenent rights would be sensible

spencer, london, uk

Why are developers worrying? Gordon Brown is going to spend our money to pay for the loan he will take out to buy up all their stock at inflated, well-above-cost prices so he can fill them with some of the pet voters he has just bought.

The sooner individuals can build their own home the better.

Tim Carpenter LPUK, London, UK

The 'boom' has been based on easy credit and house price inflation
I feel for the 4000+ individuals in house building now without jobs - i work for a housing association - we WONT be buying these surplus nasty 1 and 2 bed flats - we aren't a 'get out of jail card' for developers shoddy products.

Mark, london, england

No one disputes prices are well off their best levels, but are we talking of per cent declines against 'offered' prices or against 'transacted' prices. The situation is so unclear yet the headlines so definite how can this be?

Robert D Marshall, LONDON, UK

Why not rent the houses and flats out, then when the maket picks up offer the tenants a "Right To Buy" scheme.

Bob, Sunderland,

Don't be taken in by the offers, here is an example of what the property last crash was like -
In 1997 I bought a house for £97,500,
This same house cost the original purchaser £112,500 when bought new in 1987. There was nothing wrong with it, just a standard 4 bed, double garage, detatched house.

jasper, chelmsford,

Average wage in the UK: Approx £24,000
<br/>Newquay flats for sale: &pound;249,999 to &pound;1.5 million
<br/>
<br/>How can anybody be surprised they are not selling?

John, London, UK

I've got 3000 Sainsbury's Reward Points. Anyone know where I can buy a new flat for those points?

Chris, Redhill,

This is the time to squeeze developers. I 've just had an offer for a new house accepted - 40% off the asking price. Be cheeky. Developers are so desperate they will bite your hand off for cash.

Seth, Croydon,

"Has nobody missed the fact that there will be thousands of people stuck in negative equity"

Luke, wootton bassett, UK

There's also thousands of people stuck in poor rental accomodation because of the greed and/or stupidity of these people!

I feel for them but I feel more for us!

Mike, West Mids,

Maybe now I can find a builder that does not want to charge £250 a day for his workmen

Richard, Effingham, UK

Its the general population who are losing out one way or another, only a select few are benefitting from all this and they're generally the ones who have contributed to its cause!

We need to stop thinking about ourselves and help each other, society needs to change!

Mike, West Mids,

prices need to drop for sure. i rent a 2 bedroom flat in stoke-on-trent, one of the most deprived areas in the uk, average wage=minimum wage. my flat has an open plan kitchen/living space (2x 2 seater sofa and its full), 2 bedrooms (1 double, 1 a closet) and bathroom. valued at £149,995. its a joke

rebecca, stoke-on-trent, uk

People are fed up with Rip Off Britain, all people want is affordable homes. House builders and developers always want a nice big fat juicy markup, my heart bleeds for them.

Buyers should enjoy having the upper hand for once, make sure you drive a hard bargain because prices are falling.

Graham, St. Albans, uk

Has nobody missed the fact that there will be thousands of people stuck in negative equity if prices crash as much as people are saying??? Are all you smug people happy that potentially thousands of people
Surely it would be better to cap property prices at current levels until salaries catch up?

Luke, wootton bassett, UK

Quote: "One financial expert, however, described the offer as 'a desperate move'”.

You could only find one. I could supply you with hundreds.

T Sparks, Romsey,

Just cut the price!

Geoffrey, Newquai,

I can't wait for buy one get one free. Then we'll all be able to afford our dream first home by knocking the 2 together. In the mean time spend some of your hard earned savings/deposit on gold and then reap the rewards when a full blown recession and inflation sends gold prices soaring.

Nimesh, Aberdeen,

It is a bout time the government put a stop to these "incentive" schemes being offered by property developers.
They are in effect a fraudulent method of distorting land registry figures for property prices and thus maintaining the grossly overinflated property market.

Allan, Inverness,

We keep hearing that houses are falling because FTBs (First Time Buyer) can't get mortgages. There is no mention that the Buy To Let sector was propping up the market the last few years . The FTBs were priced out of the market years ago. The Property Crash will benefit First Time Buyers.

John, Derby,

I live in Newquay, and I know the flats in question. The new flats they are trying to sell for 250K cost about 40K each to build. A reasonable asking price might be say 90K-100K. The vendor is living in cloud cukoo land if he thinks that people are going to be fooled by the offer of a smart car!

Jerry Shaw, Newquay,

Prices fell by over 60 % in hong Kong between 1997- 2003.

r melly, HK, china

When the prices finally reach an affordable level nobody will have a job left anyway because the whole economy will have collapsed..

C Smith, Norwich, UK

The UK economy has relied on the property and financial services industries fueled by City salaries to create an economic bubble. It's burst. Get over it. It's now time to focus on actually making something people around the world may want to buy.

John Stobart, Oakham, Rutland, UK

How about buy one get one free for houses, or buy one get three free in the case of flats?

Paul, Coventry,

Cut the prices! Anyone noticed how small the rooms really are in these new flats? Built from ticky-tack anyway. Developers took their gamble and lost - tough luck. The market works both ways.

Dr Ian Burgess, Bristol,

Here's a radical idea - actually save cash before you spend it, meaning that you can afford to buy a house, rather than NEEDING handouts from the banks??

Stu, UK,

In recent years developers have made massive easy profits for no extra effort on their part. I have no sympathy for their current "plight".

Chris K, Cheltenham, UK

Forget the "cheap" gimmicks of free cars. Better still, play the waiting game until the greedy developers HAVE to slash THEIR margins, only then will there be a chance of ssanity returning to the housingmarket

pearson, brisbane, australia

Here's a radical idea for the property developers, cut your prices to reflect the crashing market. Once the realisation that the car gimic won't work the developers will panic and slash prices and drive them lower and faster. Easy come, easy go.

Edward, London,

The USA developers offered cars/boats/vacations/pools/discounts/TVs....etc etc

.....about 9 months ago. Made ZERO difference.

Paul, London, Canada

The previous housing market collapse started when the government ended joint mortgage tax relief, the start of this one was the introduction of HIPS. I suspect every housing market collapse is triggered by the meddling of the government of the day.

Stephen, St. Ives, England

I don't call £250 K a cheap flat.Maybe if they had built flats and houses that real people could afford to buy there wouldn't be this problem.Looks like they will need to offer a free Roll-Royce with free insurance in order to sell the most expensive flats.Troule is the price of petrol is too high.

stephen hulton, eure, france

I for one hope house prices fall by at least 40% to reasonable levels. My friends and I would each like to buy a one or two bedroomed apartment in a city in the UK for around 60 - 80k, is that so much to ask? We all work hard and want out own place to call our home.

David, Oxford, UK

£50k is about 3% of £1.5M.
With estimated 25%+ depreciation for the flat and 50% for a 50K car over 2 years, I think you need 15 cars thrown-in to make it a really good deal. On second thoughts, better ask for a few more to cover the 60k(!) stamp duty.
How many parking spaces with the flat?

Michael, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

"hopes that the Bank of England's multibillion-pound injection of cash into the credit markets earlier this year would revive the mortgage market"...the banks have hoarded it.
Better to have given the funds in terms of cheap mortgages direct to home owners thus avoided the mortgage drought

Imran Khan, Hayes, United Kingdom

What a difference a year makes!!!

Buy to letters were blamed for the rising market, now the credit crunch is biting, first time buyers have an even bleaker outlook. My advice is to stay put & wait 18 months before buying. There will be many bargains with many at 30% off, mow that can't be bad!

Tricie Dickie, London, England

You forgot taxes. Us hard pressed folk are going to be significantly poorer next year to recoup the 9bn that the treasury needs to balance it's books.

Prepare to be taxed until you bleed.

Paul, London,