Dani, South West. A bargain, eh? Prices are set to fall by another 25-40%. Buy, say, a 300k house now and that means an overpayment of 75-120k. By the time prices recover in 10 years or more that could be over 80k extra in mortgage interest plus the initial overpayment. Do the sums first!

Clint, Brighton, UK

Well - we just bought a house last week. We got it for a knock down price in a nice area. Don't really care if the prices fall any further as by the time we're ready to move on I'm sure house prices will have recovered!
I must have been 'the 'one' that week!

Dani, South West, UK

Estate agents do not own the properties they sell. They are engaged to secure the highest price possible by the actual owners. Greed, if that is the term to be used, lies with those who instruct estate agents to act on their behalf. Who amongst you has deliberately undersold their own property?

derek, burton on trent,

"No house should cost mone than it cost for the land material and wages to build"

Nice idea Daphne, but when do you value the land? That's what costs the money. The other two are near enough the same anywhere in the country.

Adrian, Surrey,

When you ask someone who has a vested interest in higher house prices they will tell you the market is slow because there is not enough money available to borrowers.

it is absolutely true of course, the more money you make available the higher prices people pay for the same number of houses.

Tony, Belfast,

My heart bleeds for all impoverished estate agents ! There's far to many of them and they need thinning out. Perhaps all those who find themselves displaced will seek out proper jobs and our high streets can be returned to their former glories.

Tom, London,

The days of using houses to make money is over. Houses under Gods laws is a place for families to live. No house should cost mone than it cost for the land material and wages to build, total it up and you have the price for the house.

Daphne Kenward, Cambridge, UK

the ridiculous Hips imposed by this incompetent government has not helped either!!

Jean, London, England

It used to be called "boom and bust"

But now its called "the global economy" Everyones fault except the governments.

Odd that.

ronnie, bucks, UK

As an agent myself, I can't agree more with Paul's comment - it's all about the prices. We've worked extremely hard with our sellers to adjust to this new market and saw last week bring us 9 sales. Perhaps these 1 sale agents should work harder to get prices right in the first instance

Mark, Margate, UK

"RICS blamed the slump in activity on speculation" hahahahahahaha.... presumably they also "blamed" the price rises during the boom on speculation. Oh, that really is rich. The government shouldn't shell out a single penny to help people who speculated and lost.

David Pritchard, Madrid, Spain

If I said I had no sympathy for estate agents, you'd believe me, wouldn't you? Remember, don't say no or what happened to Pinocchio might happen to you.

Andrew Waldron, Bournemouth, UK

This whole fiasco has been brought about through pure greed. Estate Agents deserve everything they get as they were selling houses as prospective cash cows and not as family homes to many people who thought little about how their children might get on the ladder it was blatantly unsustainable .

Simon, Penzance, UK

Dead simple, announce restrictions on the amounts that can be borrowed and then leave the market to settle.

Having seen average wages rise by 50% in ten years, the average house price increase of nearly 270% irks of irresponsible lending. Too much credit and too much greed are to blame.

Paul, London,

The RICS keep on with all this nonsense feigning 'concern' for first-time buyers, knowing full-well that in any normal market, lack of sales would lead to prices falling to make up. The answer is simple, anyone who genuinely wants to sell must make a substantial cut to the price.

Paul, Coventry,