Housing sales have fallen 15 per cent since September at Crest Nicholson, the housebuilder bought six months ago for £715 million by HBOS and Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital private equity firm.

Stephen Stone, the chief executive of Crest, calling for an immediate cut in interest rates to restore general consumer confidence, told The Times that buy-to-let investors had “simply gone on holiday” over the past few weeks as the credit squeeze had forced them out of the market.

Demand for Crest’s flats across the South and the Midlands has been hit hardest, Mr Stone said.

Prices have fallen between 2 per cent and 3 per cent in the Midlands and the South West, part of a trend that began in January.

Meanwhile, buy-to-let investor numbers across the country have fallen by half since October – a buyer group that usually accounts for about 35 per cent of Crest’s flat sales.

The sudden deterioration in Crest’s performance will resonate across the housing market, because its model epitomises the make-up of the country’s new-homes market. Half of Crest’s new-builds are flats, and the other half affordable family houses.

Until September, Crest had been forecasting a 15 per cent rise in sales volumes for its financial year to October 31. The sudden sales slump since September, coinciding with the Northern Rock crisis, left total completions flat at 3,300. Crest managed to increase its completions by about 15 per cent the preceeding year.

Mr Stone said: “Flat is a good result in this context. Since October we are still getting visitors and still getting reservations – it’s just the numbers have reduced. London and South East are still very good in the owner-occupier market but there has been a similar percentage fall across the country for buy-to-let investors. There has been a dramatic fall – easily a 50 per cent drop off since October.”

Crest, in line with trading updates from rival quoted housbuilders, has not had to cut its sales prices since September. Prices of its flats and houses in London and the South East have been “pretty good,” Mr Stone said.

Prices of Crest’s homes in the Midlands and South West have been falling gradually since January, reflecting a decline in regional house prices.

Crest’s operating profits increased by 3 per cent to £103 million over the year ending 31 October, with a strong first nine months offsetting the decline in fourth-quarter trading.

Crest has secured 57 per cent of its sales targets for its new financial year with nine months still to go.

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