What's with the gloomy herd mentality? Are we talking ourselves into recession? Thing is keep seeing reference to 3-4x salary as mortgage norm, but what you're also assuming is that 100% mortgage is also the norm, which is not the case as many countries/households put in at least 1/3 deposit...

Ken, London,

it is not government's business to interfere in the housing market, if house values fall houses become cheaper to buy, obviously. the main losers will be the mortgage lenders whose security will just disappear. poor, poor moneybags my heart bleeds forthem

peter c, Devizes, Wessex

I shall be appalled if the government step in to help the lenders and prop house prices up. There is only one medicine - lower house prices that people can afford.

Prices were driven way beyond reasonable affordability, it is not the job of the tax payer to keep it that way.

Simon, Chester,

KEEP OUT.
Government has no business to intervene in the housing market.

Any intervention is immoral and favours one group over another. Mortgage-holders made an investment decision. Quite happy to pocket the upside, they now want handouts to cope with the downside.

Self responsibility and choice.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

I think a lot of consumers these days think that money grows on trees and to think that talking in the lower hundreds of thousands of pounds sounds like peanuts,the words roll off the tounge so easily,especialy when talking about mortages & houses, as if £185.000 is not a lot of money,BUT IS A LOT.

WILLIAM CREESE, Fareham, U.K.

We non-property owners pay 3 times over: taxes to inflate property prices (incl. "social housing" even before Northern Rock), rents inflated by high prices, and finally if we're ever rich enough to buy.

Stop tax breaks for property owners, and watch that money move back to the productive economy!

Nick, West Devon, UK

NOT .with my money Mr Brown !!!

Andy cooper, Oxford,

Britain is bust. Throwing inflationary money at it will only exacerbate the problems. We need factories, protectionism, and end to treasonable Globalist policies and a return to the values of hard work and small government. Not one of our main parties has the policies to save the UK.

R McAuley, Antrim, uk

There is no problem. If you have a 10% to 25% you can get an ok rate, if you have a 25% deposit you can get a great rate. If you dont have 10% deposit, you need to save one. This is how it should be

Heeners, Bath,

Why should I subsidise private landlords or people who borrowed more than they could afford with my money?
If they wanted to make money, be prepared to take the risk and face the fall as well!
No more bailouts. Let the bankers pay back their hefty bonuses & the landlords lose some of their gains.

P Davis, Manchester,

Why blame the bankers all the time? Were the borrowers sleepwalking? Or were they simply greedy?
If they were sleepwalking then an NHS referral is the best treatment. If they were greedy then let them learn a lesson.

P Davis, Manchester,

The situation is simple: Housing is due a correction back towards historical norms. Just to make things worse a recession is starting.

Therefore banks are pricing in high risk to high LTV loans. This is only common sense. To talk about fixing the market is madness.

A Harris, Kettering, UK

lenders for the purpose of making fortune from buyling-and-saling houses are hateful,however the main responsibility should borne by the bank.It is the leak of the strategy that causes the successive consequence.l

Lucy king, Fu Zhou, China

i know people who are in private rented houses being paid for by the government to the tune of 2 grand a month by buying up reposessed homes now and rented them out at an affordable price will save the government millions in the long run .......these private landlords are fleecing the government to the tune of millions get rid of the parasites

andy, surrat, thailand

Darling's prediction of a long economic downturn will convince many more potential buyers to wait for falling house prices. I wonder whether this announcement was already a part of Brown's economic stimulation package. If so, it is counterproductive for the property market.

Peter, Liverpool, UK

Good, I hope house prices do fall and fall. I'm a first time buyer and there are just too many greedy people who have tried to cash in on the property boom and I'm pleased to say it looks like they're going to get burned and burned badly! GREAT!!!!!!

Anto, London, England

Sophie Smith - it's 3 times average salary x 2. Even in the '70's, you had to be a couple to buy a house if you were low paid. And you needed a deposit. People are broke now because they overspent. That will pass and houses will be much cheaper soon. Just hang on a couple of years...

Colin, shrewsbury,

The housing market is massive and massively overvalued.
Could this be the first glimmer of common sense from our leaders? Is it possible that they have finally realized that holding house prices high is a sure fire way to exacerbate the crash in the wider economy?
I suppose miracles are possible..

Pat, Coromandel, NZ

Agreed. It makes no sense for the govt to intervene.It seems the avge house price is now ~165K and avge salary ~30K.

Mortgages are maintainable at 3-4x salary. Simple economics therefore would dictate that the avge house price needs to fall to between 90&120K for it to find natural market value.

A J B, Tokyo, JP

Irresponsible borrowers are also to blame for this.If they now find themselves in difficulty then they and they alone should pay the price.Taxpayers have already underwritten Northern Rock. We don't need any more bad debts on our books. A lesson needs to be learned, otherwise this will happen again.

Frank Hegarty, Farnborough, UK

Sophie, you are so right. The lenders are as much to blame as the real estate industry that seduced owners and developers into raising house prices to ridiculous levels. Now the market must adjust on its own without tax payers' help. Why should those who have been thrifty pay for these follies?

B J Deller, Marbella, Spain

Lenders are demanding deposits and lending criteria has been tightened to 3x salary.
10 years of amassed debt means that people are broke and 3 times average salary will not buy a garden shed! Unless that criteria is loosened house prices will fall and fall.
Broon/Darling must not interefere

sophie smith, london, uk