Median price at August 2008: £198,336

General increase since Sept 2007: 5%

Projected increase to Sept 2009: 0-2%

Five-year increase: 117% (£83,464)

Ten-year increase: 156% (£60,346)

The complete Clackmannanshire and Stirlingshire price guide

In the first five years of the 21st century average house prices rose by 89% in Clackmannanshire, and since 2006 local agents have been bracing themselves for a downturn that, nonetheless, seems to have taken them by surprise when it finally hit this year.

As elsewhere, the key issues are market uncertainty post-Northern Rock and lending difficulties. Jane Morgan, of Jardine Donaldson, says her advice has changed in this new reality. “I am telling clients now to seriously consider all good offers as a seller, and [buyers] to buy the best they can afford in an established area while deals are possible.”

Like many professionals in the industry, Morgan complains that the number of inexperienced agents fostering unattainable expectations to gain business does nobody any good. She expects not a few casualties for firms for whom anything other than boom conditions is a new experience.

The larger, modern estates of Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire have been worst affected, with builders’ incentives for new homes ensuring that the resale market for second-hand new-builds is very precarious. “On the plus side, that does mean there are good opportunities for buyers,” she says.

The safest bets, unsurprisingly, are traditional second-hand homes in good areas which have a proven track record for holding their own in difficult times.

Morgan says: “If you want to move, sell first and get your mortgage in place.”

Forced sales and repossessions are more prominent than in the past and, as unpalatable as it might seem, they do present opportunities for well-placed buyers. Employment levels in the region remain buoyant, but there are few vacancies being advertised locally. All agents agree that a change in mortgage lending conditions is much needed.

With parents tightening their belts in light of their own fears, there is less money around to finance their offspring’s deposits as first-time buyers. That could lead to a scaling down of flat prices in particular and, again, that would provide an angle for those with the wherewithal to enter the market either as owner-occupiers or landlords.

Rising utility costs, general pension fears and any perceived threat to jobs are wider concerns, but Morgan says: “We have come out of this before and we will do so again. Houses have to bear some relationship to earnings again before the market moves on. That is just part of an inevitable cycle.”

As in the Borders and Lanarkshire, the spectre of the added cost of home reports is a worry, with fears that their introduction later this year could further slow a sluggish market. And as in Ayrshire, steadings and converted farm properties appear to have lost their lustre, with buyers taking the view that their money can go further elsewhere in terms of privacy and amenities.

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