Lets move to stop speculation in property. Bring back a rating system to encourage people to live in sensible sized houses and make it illegal for anybody to hold more than one mortgage at a time. Buy to let speculators should be taxed at 80% on capital gains.

Clive Stringer, Devon, England

Falling house sales = less stamp duty for the Exchequer, which is why Brown and Darling will do everything they can to reflate the housing bubble.

Paul, Coventry,

1. Shortage of houses and it is getting worse.
2. FTB's cannot find deposit, they have to rent. Shortage of rental properties. Rents go up.
3. Rents go up & FTB's have difficulty getting deposit.

Need to solve FTB deposit so can buy houses otherwise we will all rent and landlords make more.

Roger, Wisbech, UK

" "First time buyer sales fell to 15,600" in August. Dividing by 4, gives approximately 3,900 sales per week. " - Warlock.

How many estate agencies share those 3,900 sales per week, or do you think that the government is the only estate agent?

Edwin, Bucharest,

"First time buyer sales fell to 15,600" in August. Dividing by 4, gives approximately 3,900 sales per week.

However low home sales may have fallen, it would appear that the basic arithmetic skills of journalists have fallen considerably further.

warlock, Brussels, Belgium

Lending will not increase to 2007 levels soon as property prices will fall and lenders will restrict lending to those with high deposits or existing equity. The government meanwhile should end tax reliefs on buy to lets and stop the country being overrun by poky flats and rip-off freeholders

Andrew G, London , Uk

LOL So its not all gloom and doom at the moment, this disgustingly inflated market is getting a well deserved kick in the head and that will continue untill its knocked unconscious, and then normal prices will resume.

Joe, Manchester,

First time buyers have suffered toO long because of over inflated property prices.

It seems to me that now that the bubble has burst its going to be just as hard if not harder to get on the property market.

The baby boomers profit, my generation has paid for it all.

Andrew, Aberdeen, UK

Negative equity's only a problem if you have to move. Sit tight, save up and hope prices recover. I was stuck with a flat after the 80s crash and eventually sold it for 70% of my mortgage amount, borrowing the difference from a relative. Cost me a fortune but I didn't expect taxpayer to bale me out!

Rick, Surrey, UK

Rupert, London, UK

Spot the estate agent / mortgage advisor.
It was EXACTLY that cowboy approach to lending which created this HUGE problem in the first place.

Hardly something to celebrate is it?
Inflation at 5.2% and you want rates @ 4%?
Nice for the savers eh?

John, Worthing, UK

Houses are no longer easily exploitable for the pocketing of unearned cash. This is very good news and long may it remain so. The re-establishing of mutual building societies under new ethical rules is the next task. Houses should be for living in, not devices for thieving other peoples money.

James, Beckton, East London

Once a balloon has burst you can't blow up the same balloon again. The world has changed and these headline grabbing measures will just delay the inevitable slide in the stock and property market. It won't be long before we hear of houses becoming "council" houses and previous owners paying rent

B Cockell, Annecy, France

At least half of this problem was caused by overlending on the strength of ever increasing house prices, a glorified pyramid sales scam. Surely what our illustrious leaders mean with regards to 2007 is that the array of offerings are there not a return to nihilistic 100%+ mortgages. Surely????

Stewart, Twickenham, UK

Felicity, I agree with you. The Government has apparently requested the banks to lend against property at the lending level for the year 2007'. If it's true, it's ridiculous.

Public finances must deteriorate sharply for the next four to five years, I would guess.

Clive, London,

Same here. House prices have been climbing because of high demand and low stock, first home buyers can borrow with minimal deposit and then can't meet repayments. Now the Australian government has just made AUD1.5 billion available to assist first home buyers again - to stimulate the market.

Mark Graham, Melbourne, Australia

Buy a nice holiday home in France... regulated market, safer for your money.

Mark, Woking, UK

Whats all this nonsense about negative equity? Let me tell you its about as dangerous an 'illnesss' as Dandruff. So fools paid more than the property was worth, what do they want me to do, pay more taxes to compensate them!

Mike, Romsey,

Property prices will soon be roaring back. Govt will force banks to lend, will cut interest rates massively, give mortage rate at cost of Govt borrowing so roughly 4% and suddenly all those toxic assets will suddenly become positive again and with few new homes being built demand greater than supply

Rupert, London, UK

80% mortgages should be the maximum permissible by law.

Stephen, Glasgow, UK

This is good news for me. I have been waiting for a long while now for this to start happening and been keeping myself cash-rich as much as possible. I am hoping for an even further drop in price - the more the better for me!

Jason Grant, Stockwell, United Kingdom

Am I supposed to feel sorry for these people. It could be said that they started their own downfall by inflating house prices in the good times. This caused people to borrow more than they could pay back.

Tom Lewis, Romestaing, France

I must be being thick. Wasn't it mortgage-lending-to-all that (apparently regardless of ability to repay) that got the banks into trouble in the first place? And now they've been given a helping hand - just so long as they start spraying mortgages around again...?

Felicity, London,