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For those of us who have the necessary funds, it could definately be a buyer's market at the moment. People looking to buy a property could get a lot more for their money at the moment - as long as they had enough money behind them to afford the deposit and mortgage repayments.

Firstrungnow.com have said that as many people are looking to sell quickly, they wil be more willing to negotiate their price. For people who are prepared to take the risk and buy a property now, they could be on to a winner.

Research by RICS found that from September this year, the average hose was selling for 9% less than the asking price. The north of the UK saw the biggest gap in asking/selling prices, at 12.5%, followed by London, with a gap of 8.5%.

The average asking price of a home is now £229,691 and people are more likely to agree on a price less than this at the moment.

According to one law firm, separating couples are being forced to remain living together because the housing market slowdown is making it impossible for them to sell up.

Divorces and career breaks both seem to be being put on hold as a result of the crunch and the housing market grinding to a halt.

It's not just the bog-standard homes out their that are losing value... Buckingham Palace has reportedly lost £57m of its value in the last year as well.

Property valuation site, zopla, has found that the royal home was worth almost £1bn last August, coming equipped with 775 rooms including 52 bedrooms, a cinema, a swimming pool, a private post office, 19 state rooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 78 bathrooms, 92 offices and 40 acres of land.

The £57m fall in value has seen the palace drop from its peak of £992,285,909 but it's still the most expensive home in Britain. It was bought for £21,000 in 1761 by George III.

Windsor Castle has also also been valued, at £180m.

A house, valued at £11m, has been repossessed in London - one of the most expensive repossessions in history.
The 6 bedroom home belonged to a financier, who became wealthy for setting up Scoot.com in the 1990s. But, after the company collapsed a few years later, and a fine for £290,000 from the FSA in 2004, the entrepreneur began to struggle.

This development just goes to show that shortfalls can happen to the well-off as well.

This isn't happening very often at the moment... Nationwide will be lowering their rates for fixed and variable mortgages by just under 0.5%. The better rates will still only be seen by those able to pay a deposit of at least 25% on a property purchase.

This is encouraging news, but these changes have been followed by conditions, often relating to deposits and what the customer can provide financially. Those that can fulfil the criteria can make substantial savings short to medium term.

Hopefully there will be unconditonal mortgage rate reductions in the coming weeks and months, but nothing is certain yet.

More than 3million Brits want to move home this year, according to research by Alliance & Leicester, and in order to make their property more appealing, 20% of homeowners are planning to do home improvements within the next 12 months.

The most popular ways to add value to homes were found to be:

• Redecorate (69%)
• Improve outdoor space (59%)
• Carry out routine maintenance (44%)

DIY and home improvement remain important to all homeowners, both to increase the value if selling and also for personal benefit if the owner is wishing to stay put.

People with mortgages in place are looking for the number of bedrooms and large kitchens when deciding to buy.

According to the Halifax price index, the average house price has falling again in May, to £184,111

For the first time since records began, more than one million homes are for sale in England and Wales - a sure sign that homeowners are desperate to sell their homes before the prices fall even more. Others are selling to take advanatge of the bargains, particularly in the form of new builds.

The report says the average asking price has fallen by £3,000 between May and June - In some places, the slump is even bigger, such as West London, where prices have fallen by nearly £20,000.

Rightmove said that 172,000 homes had been put on the market in the 5 weeks between May 11 and June 14 - this has pushed the total past 1 million for the first time. Results also show that estate agents have masses of unsold homes on their books, averaging at 75 per branch. It has also been estimated that now, there are 15 properties for every one buyer and the average asking price comes in at £239,564. Annual price growth has reduced to 0.1%.

This all signifies that buyers have finally come to terms with the fact that their property isn't worth as much as it used to be.

The latest price changes:

• -2.4% in the South East
  
• -2.2% in the South West
  
• -1.6% in East Anglia
• -1.4% in London
• +0.5% in the North
• +0.4% in the West Midlands
• +0.4% in Wales

According to a survey by Co-operative Financial Services, house-hunters are most likely to be put off by smells, particularly damp (26%), tobacco (25%) and drains (19%).

Nationwide believe the off-putters are cigarettes and pets, adding DIY disasters and poor building work.

Halifax claims that buyers think limescale or mould are undesirable, as well as lack of parking spaces and gardens. If the property did have a garden, there were a few things that wouldn't be appreciated:

• Rubbish (67%)
• Cat or dog mess (59&)
• Overlooked by neighbours (59%)
• Unhealthy lawn (43%)
• Overgrown plants/weeds (21%)
• Concrete areas (20%)
• Gnomes (17%)
• Toys (7%)

It is common sense that you ensure your house is in the best condition it can be when it comes to selling it, especially since buyers are few and far between due to the current crunch.