THE BIG housing market freeze has seen properties drop in price by up to 30 per cent in Macclesfield since summer 2007, according to one estate agent.

The whiff of a festive bargain has spread to our homes it seems, as the UK suffers the biggest price slump for 20 years.

According to estate agent Nick Longworth, manager at Gascoigne Halman in Macclesfield, homeowners hoping for a pre-Christmas sale are facing valuations up to 30pc less than 18 months ago.

"That is a huge drop and it is extremely challenging," said Nick, who is braced for a "bleak" Christmas period.

"Properties are selling but only at very competitive levels. December is a bleak time anyway.

"This is the worst drop since the late 1980s and it is across the board. Nowhere is bullet proof.

"We deal with AstraZeneca relocations and their job losses have had an impact because people are moving out."

He said the biggest price fall remained, like elsewhere, in newer apartments because there was now so much choice. But he is predicting an upturn by February or March.

"In the late 1980s and early 1990s when investors started to appear interested in buying then there was a feeling that it had bottomed out because they had the confidence that prices weren’t going to drop much further.

"And we are starting to see properties attracting investors again now."

Simon Cain, lettings manager at Reeds Rains, Church Street, Macclesfield, said they had seen asking prices on some properties drop as much as £40,000 in 12 months.

"We think it is going to stay the same as it is now next year," he said.

"Confidence needs to return. It should be there because interest rates are so low – in the early 90s they were up to around 15 per cent.

"There are some brilliant bargains out there at the moment noticeably different to what was on the market a year ago.

"But the situation isn’t good – though it’s not as bad as people are saying on the news."

He said there was a section of homeowners who probably wished to move but were staying put because of the state of the market.

The Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, revealed last week that the average house price fall in the past year had been £31,500.

In the last month prices fell a massive 2.6pc – the biggest drop since September 1992 and worse than had been predicted by analysts.

Nick Clare, manager at Whittaker and Biggs estate agents on Church Street, said: "When the market will bottom out is the million dollar question. Some experts are saying we will still be feeling it in 2010.

"We are seeing prices down 15 to 20pc and the predictions coming out from above are that it will be a 30pc drop on the highs of 2007 before its over. It is pretty tough."