- The latest monthly index from the website Smartnewhomes.com reveals the average price of a new-build in the UK fell 0.9% to £257,036 in September. It was the third drop in as many months; the average cost of a new home fell 1.2% last quarter. Prices rose only in Wales (up 3%) and the southwest (4%). David Bexon, the website’s managing director, predicts more builders will offer deals in a bid to woo first-time buyers: “With many financial year-ends for housebuilders taking place just before Christmas, the majority of developers will be acting quickly to sell units.”

- A weaker market is the greatest risk to official hopes of building 240,000 new homes a year by 2016, warns Hometrack, the property-data company. “The costs of development are only likely to go one way, upwards, while the market heads in the opposite direction – or sideways at best,” says Richard Donnell, its research director. He says it is clear the government expects many new homes to be delivered by the private sector. “The question is whether the industry can absorb these rising costs without making developments unviable or pushing land values down to a level where land owners are not prepared to sell.”

- Doing up that empty property you own is now more attractive, thanks to a Vat change in the prebudget report that passed virtually unnoticed. From January 1, Vat on renovations to homes empty for between two and three years will be slashed to 5%. Currently, that discount onthe normal 17.5% rate appliesonly to work on homes vacant for three years. The fillip is part of a government push to get more of the UK’s 840,000 empty properties inhabited.

- Fancy a hassle-free life in the sun? Moving to another English-speaking country may not be the least stressful option. A survey of the top 10 emigration destinations for Britons by HiFX, the foreign-exchange specialist, reveals South Africa is the most stressful destination: there is high unemployment, rising crime and complex property-ownership rules. America and Australia rank close behind thanks to complex taxation and visa-application systems, and currency fluctuations. The least stressful is Germany: it’s close to the UK, has a stable currency and a high standard of social services.

How to fight your way out of a housing market slowdown

Do you have the clout to tough out the downturn? Emma Wells and Lucy Denyer sort victors from victims

BACKGROUND

• Housing market analysis: the plight of first-time buyers

• Home economics - January's shock house price stats

• Home economics - the property market

• The harder they fall

• Home economics

BACKGROUND

• Wise up to size

• The property market: October 21, 2007

• Shires fall to foreign land rush

• House price gloom as the wealthy turn away

How to beat a property market slowdown

The market is cooling. But learn the rules and it could work to your advantage

• Why won't my house sell?

BACKGROUND

• Empty homes: the mystery of the UK’s million vacant homes

• Opening bids: Why the Government must do something about Britain’s empty properties

• It’s dire in the shires

• Cash in on your biggest asset

Smoking ban: a drag on prices?

Paula Hawkins examines whether house prices have gone up in smoke

BACKGROUND

• Misery for over-extended and over-indebted

• UK house market is ‘heading for crash’

• The property market: October 14, 2007

• Held to ransom

Explore Property

• Buying & Selling

• New Homes

• Overseas

• Interiors

• Investment

• Gardens

• Cool In Your Code

• Specials

• First-time buyer

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