House prices are set to fall. Good news for buyers? They could surely use some

The short-term benefit looks set to get eaten up by higher interest rates, says James Moore. But there should be some longer-term relief, too

The number of mortgage approvals fell in October (PA)

This was going to be another grim column about the housing market, with mortgage approvals plummeting and warnings of a coming crash. Doom, gloom and general despair. You know the drill.

I was half – no, three-quarters of the way through writing that when I decided to take the wheelchair out into one of those grey and grimy days that Britain specialises in. That is when I thought, nah. Let’s do something different.

Let’s reflect on the fact that a 10 per cent, or whatever it ends up as, fall in prices is good news for some, potentially. By that I mean mostly young – well young-ish – people struggling to get onto a housing ladder that has rarely been so slippery and treacherous.