Now, however, everyone is talking about falling house prices. Will we feel poorer?Not if you believe the latest stats from two of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders – Nationwide Building Society said house prices went up 1.9 per cent last month, and Halifax was only slightly less bullish, saying prices rose 1.1 per cent.Of course, there are pockets where prices fell – typically the more affluent parts of London. Which, as it happens, is precisely where most of the gloomy City economists and newspaper columnists have chosen to live.The Courtney/Wilson familyWho: Clare Courtney, 24, partner Christian Wilson, 27, and their two children Luke, 21 months, and Georgina, four months.Home: Two-bed semi, Wolverhampton.Jobs: Christian is a telecommunications engineer and Clare is a housewife.Earnings: Christian – around £19,000 a year.Mortgage: About £50,000 (£355 a month).Council tax: £61 a month.Food and clothes: £500 a month.Leisure: Nil.Pension: £70 a month.Childcare: Nil.Bills: £100 a month.Travel: £50 a month on petrol, £117 a year on classic car insurance for an old Porsche 924.Tax credits: Worth £6 a month.Child benefit: Get £103 for the two children.Politics: Voted Labour in 2001. Thinking of switching to the Conservatives at the next general election.Clare’s hopes: “Paying benefits to women is going to work better If it was paid to him, I have no independence Making it payable to me makes me feel a bit more important. It’s like getting a wage for being a housewife.”Clare’s fears: “It’s hard and we struggle some months. People need to start earning more money before they start putting taxes up.

Everything’s on the increase – even prices in the supermarket – and they just want to take more and more money.”The expert’s view: The low-income family will be £21.14 a week – or £1,099.43 a year – better off from this week. Christian will get quite a shock when he receives his next pay packet, however, as the Children’s Tax Credit, which was worth £1,049 in 2002/3, due to the new baby, is removed. This is being replaced by the Child Tax Credit, which will be paid directly to the main carer’s bank account, in this case Clare’s. The family will receive £43.98 a week or £2,287.35 a year under the new Child Tax Credit.Christian will be affected by the increase in National Insurance contributions He will be paying an extra £2.76 a week or £143.72 a year. However, the assumed change in the starting-rate tax band from £1,920 to £1,960, means £40 will be taxed at a rate 12 per cent lower, saving £4.80.

The couple will also see an increase in child benefit from £26.30 per week to £26.80 per week.Mike Warburton, senior tax partner at accountancy firm Grant Thornton, says the Chancellor’s changes have fallen in a pattern over the years. “He has hit middle-income people hard, but people at the bottom end, with children, have actually done quite well. This is the case here, with this family doing rather well out of the new Child Tax Credit.”Clare’s reaction: “Brilliant Every little helps, definitely It may not sound like a lot, but it’s like £80 a month That will go a long way We live by a tight budget anyway. That much extra each month is brilliant.”Jo DillonThe Stone/Star familyWho: Richard Stone, 26, and his fianc?Fiona Star, 27, both originally from Stafford.Home: Two-bedroom rented flat in Sydenham, south London. About to move to another two-bed flat in nearby Forest Hill, where they will be paying their first mortgage.Jobs: Richard is a business development manager at a technology PR company, and Fiona is a nursery nurse.Earnings: Joint income of £55,000-£60,000 a year, split roughly 50/50.Mortgage: Currently paying £750 rent a month New flat has a mortgage of £142,000. They’ll pay around £850 a month.Council tax: About £70 a month.Food and clothes: £300 a month.Leisure: £600 a month.Pension: Richard pays £100 a month. Fiona doesn’t have a pension.Bills: £250 a month.Travel: Around £230 a month car costs.Politics: Voted Labour in 2001.