It was more doom and gloom from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors this week with news that house prices had continued to fall. The number of surveyors reports a decrease in prices was 76%, up from 74% in the previous month. However, the same surveyors also noted that the numbers of buyers had increase by 16%. I first read this story with a feeling of trepidation as this inevitably means more bad news for the property market, but it later made me think that if things were that bad no-one would be buying at all! 

January in particular has been reported to be a very positive month for property, especially in London of all places. This increased buying could actually stimulate the market and generate a recovery. I read an article here that supported this and even showed that First Time Buyers actually increased in the beginning of 2009. If the property was actually in such a state, then the first time buyers would definitely be the ones who would not be in the mood to buy property. However, seen as this cannot get any lower and we have maybe reached the bottom of this recession, the road to recovery is definitely on the horizon and this might be encouraging people to take advantage of the current market. 

This isn't the sign that we are definitely on the road to recovery as we need to make finance easier to obtain. This does mean that some things could be made easier for some people and the thought of selling your house doesn't have to be locked to current state of the market. If you're looking for a houses for sale uk, buy now and contribute towards the recovery.

I don't think estate agents should take the blame for the rise in house prices. They were simply doing their job, which is (was) to get as much commission as possible for themselves and realise the highest value for the property.

I do however blame the banking system and indirectly the government for allowing this house price explosion to occur in the first place, because when even first time buyers in the North of England, earning a wage which is above the national average are struggling to get onto the housing ladder, alarm bells should have been ringing loud and clear in number 10!

At this point steps needed to be taken to address the irresponsible lending which was going on and the bank of England given a new mandate.

Instead, all we got from the government and house builders, were ever more imaginative schemes to allow people to get onto the housing ladder, like shared ownership.

Call me a cynic, but I looked into buying a shared ownership apartment some months ago and was left with the feeling that the whole scheme was a trick to allow me to buy a fraction of an overpriced property and pay rent of the remaining portion.

My point was whether I am paying 600 pounds Mortgage and 400 pounds rent , 1000 pounds is still leaving my back account every month!

If the banks would not lend me a mortgage with repayment of 1000 pounds per month, why would they lend me 600, knowing that I still had a further 400 pounds in rent to pay? They shouldn’t right?.. But this was how shared ownership works. Smoke and mirrors!

As a result of the cheapness of money and the ever more imaginative ways of getting people onto the housing ladder , the UK went property mad, with countless property shows illustrating how even the most inept Neanderthal can make money from property.

Now the party is over and we all have the hangover and collectively as a society we need to adapt.

My thoughts go out to all who, like myself, are caught with negative equity. I console myself by saying that negative equity is not going to be an issue for me until I need to sell, which is not going to be for a while.

Other people are not so lucky as this credit crunch and subsequent fall in property values are leading us ever further into a major economic downturn.

So who do I blame..?

Everyone.

We all got greedy and brought into the myth of money for nothing. We should remember that a house is a home, not a Magic piggy bank.

Sometime in the next few years, house prices will start to rise again, but with fewer estate agents (thanks to this downturn, and ukhousing.com) and financial institutions.

Peter James writes for UKHousing.com, where you can save thousands from Private House Sales without an estate agent.