Overview: Landlords are winning as buyers flee the field

One thing is clear: all the house pricing arrows are pointing in one direction - downwards. A recent survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that 41 per cent of its members were reporting a fall - the highest number since December 1992.

One thing is clear: all the house pricing arrows are pointing in one direction - downwards. A recent survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that 41 per cent of its members were reporting a fall - the highest number since December 1992.

The house price index compiled by Rightmove.com, meanwhile, reported that asking prices fell by £3,200 or 1.7 per cent last month, and Hometrack, using its database that details trends from postcodes, puts the figure at minus-0.6 per cent over the same period. Interestingly, the report concludes: "Buyers can afford to purchase homes, but at present their inclination to do so is low."

Traditionally, the lettings market benefits most from buyers fleeing the field. Indeed, it has strengthened significantly in the past six months, with rents firming and supply shrinking. That does not make it a boom, though, and landlords could be suffering from the same delusion as some sellers - that of high expectations.

Ronnie Green, managing director of John D Wood Lettings, has found that some investors fail to do their homework. "There is no logic in a landlord refusing to accept an offer that would cost him one month's rent, while holding out for a figure that will take him to February to get, if at all. But that is how some think."

There are also landlords out there who overborrowed when interest rates were low and, if they cannot sell their properties now, are going to need understanding bank managers until the market picks up again.

As it is, people are sitting on their hands waiting to see what is going to happen. If prices aren't going anywhere for a while, it could certainly be attractive to rent - a million-pound house might cost £40,000 a year to rent and £65,000 to buy with interest rates as they are. But Green points out there is a danger that if prices start to shoot up, the renters will have missed the boat. The fact that estate agents are now finding smart family houses much easier to let would suggest that there are some who believe it will pay them to wait.

Green also suggests that buying to let might be a shrewd move in this sluggish market. He believes that if someone buys for the long-term and borrows no more than 50 per cent, it is a wise move. Quite the opposite, in fact, to those "highly geared, inexperienced, badly advised buy-to-let investors who put themselves at risk through greed", he says.

Promises, promises

Rather like clotted cream and scones, retired people and the South-west of England have always gone well together. But a rich diet can become too much of a good thing. This is how the National House-Building Federation regards the latest data, which paints a picture of the region becoming the home of only the retired and wealthy.

It has the highest percentage of residents of pensionable age in the country, but also the highest rate of second-home ownership. In many areas more than one in 20 homes is not lived in year-round.

To make it worse, the South-west is losing people from the 15-29 age group to other regions, driven out by high property prices and poor employment opportunities. The Federation is calling for the Government to give the South-west more resources for affordable housing, and is pinning its hopes on the regional allocations to be announced soon.

Government promises might be the easy part. Turning figures into much-needed new housing could take much longer.