- Buyers paid a record £6.4 billion in stamp duty in 2006-07, up 40% on the previous year. Figures from HM Revenue & Customs show that the level of duty paid is now almost nine times more than it was before Labour came to power in 1997.

- The housing market is “slowing quite dramatically”, says Your Move, one of Britain’s biggest estate agents. It reports that asking prices fell in August because of interest-rate rises and the introduction of home information packs, and rose by only 0.06% in September. “Consumer confidence has undoubtedly taken a hit,” says David Newnes, Your Move’s managing director.

- Rich townies are causing UK farm prices to soar. The cost of farmland rose by 22.6% to £8,850 per hectare in the first half of 2007, compared with an 18.1% rise in 2006. “The market is fuelled by city buyers trying to make the most of low farmland prices,” says Sue Steer, of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. “Large bonuses are entrenching these ‘move to the country’ trends.” Farmers from Denmark and Ireland are also snapping up great swathes of our countryside.

- The UK’s housing equity (the value of homes minus the mortgages owed on them) has risen from £787 billion in 1996 to £2.7 trillion in 2006 – a 244% increase – according to research by the Halifax and Bank of Scotland. Property ownership now accounts for 43% of UK households’ net wealth, compared with 28% 10 years ago.

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

- Meanwhile, people aged over 60 have an average of £82,466 equity in their homes, according to a survey by Norwich Union. About 60% of the 1,950 householders interviewed have been living in their homes for 20 years or more, and 94% of them say they would not sell to provide income for their retirement.

- Nightmare neighbours can take thousands of pounds off the value of a home and make it harder to sell. A survey by the website Propertyfinder.com says the most unpopular neighbours are – surprise, surprise – squatters and party-loving flat-sharers. The price of a home next to squatters falls by almost 20%; those next to students drop by nearly 10%.

Times recommends

• Fall in house sales hits builders, estate agents and mortgage brokers
• Why the property credit crunch favours cash buyers
• The blood-curdling history of Quarrelwood House