Number of home sales fall to the lowest rate since records began in the 1970s

One told a survey he had "no credit, no confidence, no customers".

The latest report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is the bleakest picture it has ever published.

House prices are experiencing the most widespread falls since RICS started monitoring them 30 years ago.

That makes the current crisis even worse than the property crash of the early 1990s.

Of the 282 estate agents who took part in the April poll, 82 per cent said prices had fallen over the last three months.

Between February and April, they sold an average of 18.3 properties each, the lowest ever. One said sales were down 60 per cent on last year.

The authoritative report says estate agents expect prices to keep on falling – their "price expectations" have also collapsed to an all-time low.

Prices are falling in every region of Britain – Scotland finally turned negative last month.

The worst-hit area is the East Midlands where prices have been falling for 16 straight months.

Another key indicator – the number of would-be buyers registering their interest with estate agents – has been sliding for nearly two years.

Many agents blamed the mortgage drought, saying applications for "perfectly normal loans" are being rejected.

The report came on the same day as further evidence that mortgage costs are rising despite Bank of England rate cuts.

The bank's official figures showed average interest rates up 0.4 per cent.

• More people are hoping for house prices to fall than for them to rise, according to a poll. The BBC-commissioned survey found that 28 per cent wanted a drop, compared with 22 per cent who hoped for an increase. In an indication that crash fears may be misplaced, almost twothirds said not even a fall of more than 10 per cent would make them cut back their spending.

• One of the most hated terms in the property market lexicon has returned – "gazundering". This cruel trick happens when buyers slash an agreed offer, usually on the day that contracts are due to be exchanged. The word appears three times in today's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors report. One estate agent from Maidstone, Kent, said: "Gazundering is prevalent, as is a spirit of gloom and uncertainty." Another from Central London said it is "rife", sometimes twice where buyers target desperate sellers. Gazundering can destroy the whole house-buying chain, as it may leave a seller with too little cash to buy their new home. But in the current climate many buyers know that they are in control and that while sellers will be infuriated by a lower offer they may also be too keen to complete to refuse.