The tag “iconic” coupled with a big-name architect used to guarantee a housing scheme's success. They were not enough, however, to save the Lumiere, a Philippe Starck-designed glass tower in Leeds where work stopped this week. Kevin Linfoot, the developer, said that it would be “commercial suicide” to continue.

The dimming of the safety lights at the Lumiere, one of scores of developments falling quiet, increases concern about the long-term outlook for the property market. Homeowners may be preoccupied with statistics on falling prices but the mothballing of housing schemes could exacerbate the shortage of homes, making another price spiral possible several years hence.

The downturn is producing bargains, for those minded to take a gamble. These can only be seized by buyers with piles of spare cash, however, as cheaper mortgages are unlikely to be available soon, unless the Treasury-sponsored report by Sir James Crosby produces a mechanism to return the loan business to normal. Whatever he suggests, it is unlikely that the easy money will flow freely again. Liam Bailey, of Knight Frank, believes that banks will return to the cautious policies of a decade ago.

An uneasy silence may have fallen over construction sites, but this has not stilled the debate over who will acquire the thousands of completed but unsold homes. Some rich investors are buying, exploiting the discounts of 30 per cent or more on offer; others are waiting until developers slash their margins to nothing.

Also on the lookout for a good deal will be housing associations. Some players in this not-for-profit industry that controls £74 billion worth of housing are as powerful as FTSE 100 companies. They are extra-creditworthy and so able to get finance. First-time buyers who could only dream of a city centre loft may now be able to move into such a pad thanks to a shared-equity scheme.

One commentator, asked yesterday to predict what would happen to the mothballed sites, said that each would be “its own story”, with the ending dependent on the fortunes of the local market. There are, however, national implications: the Government's ambitious housing targets cannot now be met, whatever ministers may say in public. What they are saying in private, perhaps, is that cutting the supply of homes now will help to shore up the housing market. This will be scant comfort for the laid-off brickies and plumbers contemplating the destruction of their own plans.