'I've made an offer on a house, but friends say that if the Government offers a temporary respite on stamp duty, I could save nearly £11,000 and take out a smaller mortgage. Is it too much of gamble?' TM, Milton Keynes, by email

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Everyone knows the statistics by now: property prices have fallen almost 10 per cent in the past year and the market is at its quietest since the 1970s. More gloomy figures published on Tuesday by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) show an average of 192 buyers registered on estate agents' books in July, which compares with a peak of 620 in those hazy property days of summer 2003.

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Mortgage lending increased slightly during July but remained well down on the level recorded a year ago, figures showed today.

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My partner and I are close to buying a property, but we're very confused by the various housing indices reporting different price falls – some say we're 10 per cent lower compared to last year yet others suggest between 6 and 8 per cent. One index suggested last week that prices in London had risen! Why is it so different? TT, Bath

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An estimated 10,000 buy-to-let landlords are more than three months behind with their mortgage, according to research from independent financial adviser Hargreaves Lansdown. More may follow and start struggling to meet their repayments as large numbers of landlords are due to come off cheap two- and three- year fixed-rate mortgage deals in 2009 and 2010.

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The number of homeowners at risk of losing their homes has risen by nearly a quarter in the past year, figures showed today.

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'We are fortunate enough to be able to afford overpayments of £500 a month, the maximum permitted. The amount outstanding is now £48,000, with 15 years to run. Is it better for us to reduce our term or to continue overpaying?' JL, by email

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Everywhere you look in the UK property market, you see misery: tumbling prices and transactions dropping off a cliff. Normally, this would have prospective first-time buyers rubbing their hands with glee – ready to jump in and snap up a home at a far lower price than they could have hoped for in the recent past. However, there is a big problem: the credit crunch.

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The number of UK house repossessions jumped by 48 per cent in the first half of the year to its highest level for 12 years, figures showed today.

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'Our two-year fix with A&L at 4.6 per cent ends in November and we've taken steps to fix a rate in advance. However, I've noticed that fixed rates seem to be falling. Are we foolish to book a fix now – we were quoted 7.07 per cent with one bank last week! – or should we wait? We think our LTV is roughly 85 per cent to 80 per cent.' SJ, by email

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British business is under attack from fraudsters as never before, according to the accountancy firm KPMG.

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In a further blow to an already enfeebled property market, the Nationwide Building Society said yesterday that house prices fell by 1.7 per cent last month alone, on top of a 0.8 per cent drop in June.

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House prices are falling at a record rate as the credit crunch continues to squeeze the property market, figures showed today.

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The spectre of negative equity on a scale not seen since the housing crash of the early 1990s is about to haunt the nation again, with unknowable but certainly dramatic political and economic consequences.

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