The cost of flats largely bucked the county trend of falling semi-detached and terraced prices, with the value of flats in Kettering rising by 10.2 per cent, in Wellingborough by 0.2 per cent and in East Northamptonshire by 5.1 per cent.

But flats in Corby fell in value by 1.9 per cent to an average of £96,218.

The value of detached homes rose in every area bar Wellingborough, where it fell by 2.9 per cent.

Detached houses went up in value by 1.5 per cent in East Northamptonshire, rose by 0.6 per cent in Kettering and went up by 12.6 per cent in Corby.

Simon Woodham, of Simon Karl estate agents in Rothwell, said as long as the gap between selling and buying prices stayed the same, the impact would be limited.

He said: "People are accepting lower offers but it's not impacting on them as much as they think.

"Where people do come down on their house they can still make a deal on the one they're buying. Realistically everyone accepts that prices have gone down generally."

Homeowner Miranda Menzies, of Polwell Lane, Barton Seagrave, said: "I think it all eventually evens itself out but I would worry if I was trying to get into the market."

In the last three months of 2007 average house prices in the county fell by 1.7 per cent.

Ronald Burns, of Willowbrook Road, Corby, said: "I bought my house for £8,000 about 25 years ago. Things have changed since then.

"If house prices are going up, this would relate to the new railway station coming in December and the new town centre. It all gives a bit more prominence to the town."

The Evening Telegraph reported on Saturday that the number of people in the county taken to court because they cannot afford their mortgage had risen dramatically this year.

An average of three people every day in the county have had mortgage possession claims issued in the first three months of the year – an increase of 27 per cent on the same period last year.

So far this year 658 county people have been taken to court, more than half coming from Kettering, Wellingborough and Corby.

Nationally, there has been a rise of 16 per cent in claims issued – with Northamptonshire seeing the fifth biggest increase.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice revealed 199 claims were issued in Kettering and Corby and 138 from the Wellingborough area.

Christopher Cook, head of accounting and finance at the University of Northampton, said: "Many people who should not have been given loans the first time around, when banks were falling over themselves to lend, are now having to remortgage in much more difficult circumstances."