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You can’t turn on any news these days – print, TV or radio –and escape the credit crunch and the possible impact on the housing market. I am not an economist, so I’m baffled at times by the contradictory information coming out. I worry that we will, if we are not careful, make the worst case scenarios come true just by panicking.

The Housing press has also been full of this story, but we have a different take. There are the issues of Home Buy, the ability of housing associations to purchase private developers “cast offs”, the problems of shared owners caught in the credit crunch, and now Section 106 carrots to take on surpluses.

As someone whose career was spent in housing management, I note most of these are development stories. I taught Planning and Housing development, and those who worked in the field, realised I was coming at it from the perspective of management. Snapping up bargains may seem a good idea, but I hope the voices of both housing management and maintenance are heard. If properties are not of the usual standard or in the wrong place, they then become difficult problems for both management and maintenance – and for everyone in the long run.

Maybe the answer is to take a deep breath, exhale slowly and look behind the scary headlines. Today’s purchases may become a nightmare in years to come.