The news from the property market is getting worse. The latest data last week from the Halifax revealed prices fell by 2.5% in March – the largest monthly decline since September 1992 – while the International Monetary Fund believes the market could be down by as much as 10% in the coming year, as the credit squeeze turns to a credit crunch and soon, perhaps, a full-blown credit crisis. So who is going to be hardest hit, and what can you do about it?

The first-time buyer

On the face of it, a fall in house prices should be good news. You would be happy if the price of a car or a pint went down, so why are bricks and mortar any different? A couple of reasons: first, prices are so high relative to earnings that it would take huge falls to restore the ratio to the level of even five years ago. Second, there is the problem of finding a bank or building society to fund your purchase – a real challenge for first-time buyers, many of whom have little or no deposit. Last week Abbey became the last mainstream lender to stop offering 100% loans.

“First-time buyers are getting a double whammy,” says Richard Donnell, a director at housing analyst Hometrack. “They can’t afford to buy and rents are rising too – last year, they were equivalent to 70% of the cost of buying, now it’s 80%. Let’s hope landlords don’t sell up and leave the market in droves, as it will send rents even higher.”

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

Strategy: keep saving your money for that all-important deposit, get your name on affordable-housing waiting lists, or find someone else to buy with.

The couple trading up from a two-bedroom flat to a three-bed terrace in the suburbs

A fall in prices is potentially good news for anyone who wants to trade up, since it means the extra money you have to pay gets smaller. Prices of different properties fall at different rates, of course, but, for example, if you are selling a £350,000 flat and prices have fallen 10%, you will receive £35,000 less. This will be more than offset, however, by the £50,000 you get off the £500,000 house you want to buy.

“Take a hit on the sale of your flat in the knowledge you will be asking for a hit in your favour when negotiating for the house,” says Phil Spencer, presenter of Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location and director of Garrington Home Finders. “You can be greedy or cheeky, but not both.”

Strategy: research your local market, work out how big a hit you are prepared to take and be as flexible as you can to get the best deal on the next rung up. When the market bounces back, so too will the price of your next home.

The couple with small children living in London (or any other city) wanting to sell up and move to the country

You bought your house more than five years ago, have built up substantial equity, and family houses have always sold well, haven’t they? Property in London is holding up better than in the provinces, so, in theory, you should be able to sell for a fair price and haggle over a discount in the country. Yet, as The Sunday Times reported last month, there is a shortage of prime country properties on the market, which means you could be outbid for the house you want and waste a lot of time traipsing around the remaining less-than-perfect, overpriced properties.

Strategy: make sure you research the market in the place where you want to move. If it’s going to be difficult to find what you are looking for, try to negotiate a delayed completion date with the people buying your property. Otherwise, be ready to rent while you hunt for your new home.

The buy-to-let investor

If you have built up a portfolio of terraced housesor other period stock over several years, you are probably sitting on substantial equity. Plus, rents are rising. However, if you are among those who were persuaded to buy new-build flats, you could be in trouble. The capital gains you counted on have not materialised, and the rent probably doesn’t cover the mortgage – if you can rent out your flat at all.

“Anyone who went along to a hotel on a Saturday afternoon and put down a deposit on an off-plan flat in a northern city is in trouble,” says Steve Hilton, a spokesman for the National Landlords Association. “But the career landlord, who keeps his properties an average 15 years, will just sit tight and even begin to invest more as rents rise and prices slip.”

Strategy: increase your rent, if you can, and get your finances in place so you can take advantage of repossessions – even if it may be too early to buy just yet. Be wary of any northern city-centre flats, however much they are reduced.

The elderly couple wanting to downsize

After seeing the value of your main asset rise over the past decade, you are watching, powerless, as it drifts back down, cutting away at your pension. It’s bad for you and bad for the kids, whom you were going to help buy their first home.

Strategy: you could sit it out and wait until the market picks up. Or sell now, downsize to a smaller, cheaper-to-run house and help the children get on the ladder while it’s still a buyers’ market. “There are still plenty of buyers out there,” says Simon Backhouse, head of the Canterbury office of Strutt & Parker. “Good family houses are always popular and many are still fetching a premium.”

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