Housing sales have fallen 15% since September at Crest Nicholson, bought six months ago for £715 million by HBOS and Sir Tom Hunter’s West Coast Capital private equity firm. The Times

Stephen Stone, the chief executive of Crest said that buy-to-let investors had 'simply gone on holiday' over the past few weeks as the credit squeeze had forced them out of the market.

Demand for Crest’s flats across the South and the Midlands has been hit hardest, Stone said.

Prices have fallen between 2% and 3% in the Midlands and the South West, part of a trend that began in January.

Meanwhile, buy-to-let investor numbers across the country have fallen by half since October – a buyer group that usually accounts for about 35% of Crest’s flat sales.