In the second quarter of this year 628 houses were sold in Northampton, against 842 in 2006 and 966 in 2007.

With a 25.1 per cent fall in transactions between 2006 and 2008, the town's housing market performed worse than the national average of 23.1 per cent, Channel 4 News figures showed.

One of the town's estate agents had a 90 per cent drop in its transactions in June and July of this year compared to 2007, selling two houses in two months. Of those surveyed, only five estate agents nationally performed worse.

Anthea Barnes, of AAF Removals in Ecton Brook, said removal firms were struggling to cope as fewer people moved house.

She said: "We were doing about three moves a week and now we are doing one a fortnight. We are sinking fast. It has been bad since Christmas. People are just not ringing.

"I have spoken to other removal firms and they are saying the same thing. There are companies going bust. The market is tragic, really bad."

The survey of estate agents, conducted by the Estate Agency Academy, showed the transactions of a second agent in Northampton fell by 53 per cent, from 45 properties in June and July 2007 to 21 in the same period this year. Neither of the estate agents in the survey were named.

But estate agent Richard Greener said good agents were able to sell houses in any market.

He said: "Our volume of sales in the first quarter was 26 per cent down and in the second quarter 50 per cent down. In the third quarter we have started to gain lost ground and we have agreed 13 sales in 21 days.

"For an estate agent to sell one house a month is pretty poor. Those who are not selling houses now are not selling because they're not good, not because of the market."

Rob Turton's company The Agents recently moved to an online operation to reflect the changing market.

He said: "What we have found is that we have done about 60 per cent of what we did last year. There are companies that haven't adapted to the way the market's gone.

"It's not down to the lack of staff or ability, it's how confident the company is and the message put down from the top."

Repossessions in the first half of the year rose by 48 per cent, figures from the Council for Mortgage Lenders showed yesterday. The number of homeowners behind on their mortgage payments has also increased.