THE media is rife with scare-mongering stories about the possibility of a housing market crash and negative aspects of the decline in house prices, and although homeowners should cast a cautious eye over the market before making any big decisions, a large proportion have nothing to fear.

A recent poll commissioned by the BBC found more people would prefer house prices to fall rather than rise, conflicting with the public assumption that a fall in house prices is unpopular and economically damaging.

The poll of 1,005 people conducted in April ahead of the BBC's Truth about Property programme revealed 28 per cent favoured a fall compared to 22 per cent which would prefer a rise.

Forty-six per cent of respondents believed the best thing to happen to the housing market is for prices to plateau and stabilise which suggests a decline in prices is not as serious as first feared.

In fact, the drop in prices is good news for buyers and, unless sellers are looking to downsize, it can be beneficial for them too.

According to the National Association for Estate Agents, the UK is currently experiencing a buyers market as annual asking prices are down 1.3 per cent and average earnings are growing at a rate of 3.7 per cent resulting in improved purchasing power in the past 12 months.

In spite of the challenging property market conditions, sales have not grown to a halt and deals are still being done indicating the potential to recover confidence.

Economists are warning people who are looking to make a quick buck on the property market to reconsider buying, but promote purchasing a property if you are looking to secure a long-term investment.

Due to falling house prices, buyers are likely to get more for their money. Simon Zutshi, the founder of Property Investor Network said: "It's a great time to buy because you can get a fantastic price.

"But because prices are going to be shaky for the next couple of years you are going to have to wait for prices to come up."

He added: "Property is a long-term investment; it's not a get rich quick scheme. You need to buy now at a great price but be prepared to hold it for a while."

It is suggested house price falls do not damage the wealth of homeowners and can actually bring benefits to those looking to sell and buy something bigger.

According to property experts, it's not so much what you have, but what you can buy with it.

In other words, if you're looking to upgrade your home, the likelihood is that the price of the property you are looking to buy has fallen further than the price of the house you are looking to sell, resulting in you getting more for your money and climbing the property ladder.

Likewise, if you are looking to buy a house of a similar size, prices should have dropped of an equal amount meaning you don't loose out.

For those fearful of building up negative equity, house prices would have to fall 56 per cent to cause concern to for average mortgage borrower, according to the housing intelligence monitor Hometrack.

In addition, government figures suggest the average borrower has an outstanding mortgage worth 44 per cent of their property's value and few economists are predicting property prices will fall far enough to put the average borrower into negative equity.