It seems buyers are seeing through these ever more bizarre 'incentives'. The builders are loathe to simply reduce their asking prices, as this would require even more drastic land write downs, which would make them all insolvent. Stay on the sidelines for now.

JS, London,

Look at it another way: house prices have trebled over the last 10 years, while the cost of house-building has perhaps risen by 15%. The builders have taken all the extra in "windfall" profits. The gravy train has (temporarily?) stopped, and it is time for the builders to set a new strategy.....

Brian Crabtree, Salisbury,

If a person is struggling to pay their mortgage through a genuine reason ie illness/injury or unemployment then repossesion should not be allowed. If people have been stupid enough to run up large balances on cards and loans then I have no sympathy for them.

Andy, Teesside,

Maybe housebuilders are not building the kind of homes that people want now that design expectations have risen.

Andrew Wakeling, London, UK

There will be no quick fix for this stinking mess. We are faced with cleaning up the vomit after the gluttenous binge of easy money. I don't even see how interest rates can be reduced as we are an import reliant economy. Lower rates = weak pound, weak pound = higher import prices = higher infation.

John, Leeds, England

Allowing councils to borrow more money to buy empty new homes just props up house prices. Why not let the councils wait for the price to drop and buy more homes with the same money? Or is that a far too sensible a use of public money?

Wimpey's incentives should be lower prices, not gimmicks

Phil, Welwyn, UK

Vince is right when he says the government should focus on repossessions. A robust system that makes it more difficult for lenders to repossess might make them think more carefully about who they lend to and how much they lend to them.

Steve Drinkwater, Reading,

it's and ill wind, maybe now we willget fewer of these characterless estates spring up all over the place

peter c, Devizes, Wessex

May be, just may be, the penny has dropped. Availability of mortgages, stamp duty, HIPS are simply excuses for the media and property vested inetrests to give reasons for falling house prices.

The real reason is the price is too high. Result - falling prices and sales.

Not difficult is it

Rob, Isle of Wight,

It's about time the housing market fell to sensible levels. The ridiculous prices of the past years result largely from greedy lenders finding any number of ways to get people to borrow more than they can afford. The govt should force them to stop repossessions and eat the costs themselves

Steve Murphy, Bolton,

As a potential first time buyer - I would feel cheated if i was hoodwinked into buying into a falling market by the govt in order to save the bacon of house owners higher up the housing laddar or foodchain. Why should I be encourged to buy now and take a loss over the next two years.

Tom Morris, London, UK