More than half a million people could be added to housing waiting lists – and 283,000 construction industry jobs lost or not created – if the Government slashes the affordable housebuilding budget by 40%.

The National Housing Federation has warned that ministers - who are looking at making cuts to departmental budgets of up to 40% - risked shutting the door on an entire generation of families on lower incomes by withdrawing billions of pounds worth of funding for affordable housing schemes.

Falling demand saw house prices in England and Wales drop in July.

The average cost of a home dipped by 0.1% during the month to £158,700, according to property intelligence group Hometrack.

Property markets in the more dynamic economies of South America, Asia and Eastern Europe are outperforming those in the UK and euro zone, according to the latest RICS Global Property Survey.

Occupier demand is rising in the majority of countries across the globe with the notable exception of the UK and euro zone countries where the tough measures that have been taken to reduce fiscal deficits appear to be having a more pronounced impact on the appetite of businesses to take up new space.

Despite worries over the state of the British economy, green shoots of recovery have set a firm foothold within the mortgage market.

In the first half of this year, professional advice website unbiased.co.uk, recorded a 24% increase for consumers looking for advice from a whole of market mortgage broker, compared to the same period in 2009.

CB Richard Ellis is the leading UK advisor for investment deals by acquisitions and by disposals, according to the latest figures from commercial real estate information company CoStar.

For the third consecutive quarter, CBRE topped the disposals table, advising on £1.31billion worth of disposals in the second quarter of 2010, more than double the total of the agent in second place. CBRE also advised on £645.5million worth of acquisitions in the quarter, which was £100million more than the nearest competitor.

Prices are continuing to rise in the UK’s Prime property markets, but at a more measured pace as vendors and buyers heed suggestions that the country’s economic growth may be at risk once again, according to Primelocation.com.

The Primelocation.com Prime Index shows that the average price of a UK property increased by 0.3% in July, taking the value to £458,413.

Home movers across the UK are confused by the term "conveyancing", according to a survey by instant online quotes provider reallymoving.com.

Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring property ownership – but more than a third (37%) respondents did not know what the term meant.

Nine out of 10 (92%) of landowners polled by Knight Frank at the CLA Game Fair said they were considering some form of renewable electricity generation schemes on their estate.

Eight in 10 (80%) said the introduction of the renewable energy feed-in tariff had encouraged them to investigate renewable energy schemes.

Concerns over the planned withdrawal of the Special Liquidity Scheme and its impact on lending are examined in the latest Quarterly Economic Bulletin from the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries.

The Bulletin also forecasts that measures intended to reduce the structural deficit will continue to be a drag on the economy.

A new Housing Pact has called for the Government to prioritise investment in housing, preserve quality standards for all tenants and support reforms that promote mobility.

In return, the Housing Pact promises sector-wide innovation that can help deliver more homes with less public money, give millions of people a better quality of life and tackle poverty.