I don't follow the general sentiment.We are now in a recession and we are not at the bottom of the market.Once that has occurred and house prices slowly rise,Bob's your uncle,I'll buy.I'm in no hurry and can wait for banks to provide mortgages.Once I have a fat(good interest rate)attracting deposit!

Charles, Cirencester, Great Britain

Darren, just rework your example with a scenario of a 50% increase: you'd trouser a nice £120K from selling your current house but then you'd have to borrow £180k for the "desired house". What's so desirable about that?

Gordon Alexander, Frome, UK

@Dean. Result???

Not true, I'm afraid.
Current house bought @ 120k - borrowing 60k
Fast forward to 50% devaluation = 60k. Leaves 60k owing.

Desired house was 200k, now valued at 100k. Need to borrow 100k - 40k more than previous mortgage.

Also, NO DEPOSIT due to loss on current property. SIMPLE!

Darren Ward, Manchester, UK

People seem to forget, that while this is really good news for FTBs, it is not necessarily if you're trading up. You can't trade up without equity!

If no one can trade up, then FTBs will suffer. An absolute crash is not the answer. It will cause more problems than a leveling off.

Darren Ward, Manchester, UK

Mike in Sheffield, are you mental? devalue!! the value is what someone is willing to pay. Nobody is buying your "palace" because.....Its to much money! Halifax are small fry in estate agency they have closed most of thier branches so as for your conspiracy theory you should look to the media.

Basil Bell, Bath,

Mike, Sheffield - ok, the house you're trying to sell has fallen in value, but then so has the house that you want to buy, and if you're moving to a more expensive one, it will have fallen by more than the one you're selling - result!

Dean Hallett, Basingstoke, UK

House prices will revert to historical multiples of earnings as excess credit disappears. This will give us a chance to rebuild an economy taht is not based on selling over priced houses to each other. The sooner the bubble deflates the better.

david, eastbourne,

Well said, Kevin from Sleaford.

The market needs a correction, but, not an over correction. People who are desperate to buy "cheap" and make a fortune on the next boom are the ones shouting loudest on here!

Darren Ward, Manchester, UK

People suggest this is a good thing, but the further prices fall the more un-willing banks will be to lend, it will also cause problems with the wider economy and things will spiral downwards. Cheap housing is irrelevant if you are jobless or can't get a mortgage. The rich will prosper.

kevin, sleaford,

Brilliant, brilliant! Down with capitalism. Come the revolution, mate, we'll take 90% off house prices!

Citizen Smith, Tooting PF,

I have 3 kids who will probably want to buy houses at some point in the future.

I hope the house price crash gets even worse - it will make their futures a little brighter.

robin, melbourne,

Of all the embarrassed and humiliated people in this crisis spare a thought for the taxi driver I saw today....his cab was covered in ICESAVE livery...highest rates paid! IMagine his fellow cabbies....

Stephen, london, uk

get your pound of flesh as some poor soul loses their home.

Mind you, they deserve everything they get....

....don't they?!?!?!?
Darren ward, Manchester, UK

If they took out a mortgage in the past 2 years with the economy as it has been - yes.
If >3 times earnings - yes.

Yep, they do.

James, London, UK

As someone who wants to buy her first property in the next year, I need the house prices to continue to fall. All this housing market crash news is GOOD news to me.

Jen, York, UK

'The news will come as a blow to homeowners', except the millions waiting to trade up when the market bottoms out.

Paul, Coventry,

The Icesave crisis won't help the housing market either. I'm sure we aren't the only couple to have just had all our 'house deposit' fund stolen by the Icelandic Government!

Debbie Kent, Ilfracombe, UK

The market will recover it always does. That's why banks are prepared to buy other failing banks because they know the asset value will recover to make them a profit. Calm down everyone, buy as much cheap property as you can and watch it recover. When in Rome.

Matt, Leeds, UK

When will the figures shown start to include volume of transactions as well as price? Prices can't truly be read if there are very few transactions! The market has bottomed out when prices and volumes begin to rise again consistently over a period of time.

Paul Freeman, London, England

Should we be worried about the banks here again, given that most of the problems have been borne of repossessions in America. What if large repossessions start to occur in UK / EU territories?

Paul, Belfast, Antrim

God help any first time buyer that is foolish enough to try and climb the first rung at the moment. The ladder is rotten and It's still a very long way down to the ground. Estate Agents are desperate animals, most of them now realise that they are facing an interview at the jobcentre.

Simon Hare, Hove, UK

Ah, all the "property doom mongers" are back! Keep rubbing your greasy mitts together and bide your time 'till you can get your pound of flesh as some poor soul loses their home.

Mind you, they deserve everything they get....

....don't they?!?!?!?

Darren ward, Manchester, UK

Isn't this little blip the result of the stamp duty changes, which were always going to have a one-off impact?

bill, Knaresborough,

Mike from Sheffield, you have many other options when trying to sell your house other than the Halifax, like ebay. Let us all know how you get on :-)

martin, bridgwater,

The stock market falls looks much worse than that at the moment. At this rate of house price fall, the max peak to trough is only likely to be 20%. Not a massive number considering the 100% growth over the last 7 or 8 years in some areas.

Mac, Manchester, UK

I agree with Chris, what a headline! It's bizarre in fact with many years of misery and just try selling your house now. A further 30 to 40% drop to come and I look forward to it.

T Miller, Oxted, Surrey, Surrey

Mike, Sheffield. Brown would have loved the property bubble to stay inflated until at least the next election. What you're talking about is market forces - no one is willing/able to buy your house for what you think it is worth. The bad news, within a couple of years you'll be be lucky to get 50%.

Clive, Chichester, UK

We have got to have massive interest rate cuts to get the economy going and keep people in their homes. The truth is people won't be able to sell becuase FTB can't get mortgage for love or money as the banks have no money. Key thing is cash flow so people have low SVR so they can keep thier homes

Rupert, London, UK

Could this be that everyone is withdrawing their houses from the market or potential buyers are staying put. Who in their right mind would do a property transaction with the financial system in turmoil as now. Hence, it now appears falsely that house price drops are stabilising.

Johnny, Lancaster, UK

The housing market hit its peak in September 2007. Therefore, based on year on year prices the falls should appear to be less from now on.

However, if we look at the month on month percentage falls, I think we will continue to see house prices falling at a similar rate for a long time to come.

Barbara, Hereford, U.K

No Mike, there's no conspiracy. House prices are too expensive. Look at every measure possible.

Therefore, your estate agency has finally understood that overpriced property will not sell.

Your property is only "worth" what a buyer is prepared to pay. Its really not difficult to understand..

Rob, London, UK

What a strangely worded headline. Are you trying to brainwash us into the believe that the green shoots of recovery are appearing. We are in the midst of the worst financial crisis since 1929 and we all know that any suggestion that house prices are bottoming out is laughable. 30% more to come.

Chris, Chipping Norton,

i purchased a house in 2002 for £55.000 it was valued last year @ £130,000. The latest figures released by the people in the know would suggest a total unexaggerated fall of 15% max over the last year meaning the value now is approx £110,000
The market is simply readjusting and not a moment to soon

Tim, Hucknall, Nottingham

It baffles me that so many people took on mortgages they would not be able to afford. And now they blame the banks for lending them the money! For goodness sakes chaps, take some responsibility!

Jeremy, Kensington, UK

A person with a a job similar to the one I had 25 years ago when I bought my home could not afford to buy it from me now. This is not sustainable. House prices are still over inflated. Can some one explain why ever rising house price is a good thing but bad to have other prices rising?

S Yogarajah, Harrow, UK

House price crash over then !! .. Just as unemployment is about to explode aswell !.. ... this still has a long way to run, at least another 12 months of declines ...

Andy cooper, Oxford,

"Some experts said that the fact that the drop in prices in September was the most modest since March indicated that house price falls may be moderating."
Well they're not an expert then - just a man with a ruler.

Sticky, Gloucester, UK

I believe there is a conspiracy between the Halifax who run the countries biggest estate agency chain and the government to ensure a fall in property prices. We were recently advised to devalue our house by 24% by Halifax, knowing similar properties within our area had sold for our asking price we decide to withdraw it from the market. Maybe I’m too cynical but are Halifax doing the governments bidding and forcing prices down as payment for the wavering of the monopolises commissions interest in their rescue by TSB.

Mike, Sheffield,