Estate agents are confidently predicting there will be no crash in property prices.

They were reacting to claims in yesterday's Argus that homeowners could see more than £100 million wiped off the value of the property market in Sussex.

A spokesman for the Estate Agents Ombudsman had warned that if the downturn was as dramatic as many people feared Sussex could be affected worse than most.

Estate agents were quick to question that prediction. While many accepted trading was tough, they pointed out the local market was different to others and said claims of an imminent slump were unjustified.

Chris Weatherstone, of Weatherstone Properties in Brighton said: "Here in the South, the banks are confident, the property developers are confident and the estate agents are confident. It is going to be a slightly tougher market this year but the talk of a crash in Sussex is rubbish.

"We have a buzzing city which people want to move to all the time and the businesses are doing well. Down here there's a shortage of property and they're not making more land."

Sean Bidwell, of Bidwell's Estate Agents in Patcham, said: "I do not see that we are going to have a massive property crash. Conditions are tough but the article was scaremongering.

There are a lot of unhappy estate agents. I certainly don't think we are going to see any price rises this year and I would like to think we are not going to see any falls.

We are not expecting anything like the figures they are predicting." John Healy, the director of Healy and Newsom in Hove, said it was no surprise at least half a dozen estate agents had gone out of business recently.

He said: "Yes it will be tough for us all but that's not such a bad thing.

There are too many agents.

"Prices have gone so far so quickly, something had to give. There's a slight shortage because people tend to upgrade and they are saying we will sit and see where this levels."

Alex MacKay, owner of independent Hove-based estate agency Mishon Mackay, said: "You can't tell what will happen in a year. There's no justification in the ombudsman's statement, other than taking a wild guess at what might happen.

"The market has been hard since last summer and autumn. Prices in real terms have probably come back 10 per cent during that period. It will be a difficult market for at least the next six months."

Jeremy Whittingham, office manager at Tingley's estate agency in Hove, said: "We are still selling but at the middle to high end of the market where people have bought and sold before. The first time buyer market is very quiet and they are all moving into lettings as they are waiting for this crash we keep hearing about in the media. Prices are very high but there has been talk of a crash for years." David Maslen, director of Maslen estate agency, said: "The property market both nationally and locally has remained stable and there is a real danger that scaremongering could negatively affect it. There are still a high number of buyers out there and since the new year we have been very busy.

"We're confident there will not be a crash and our business is continuing to go from strength to strength.

Richard Hancock, of Hancock and Partners in Chichester, said: "We are seeing a change in the market but I don't know how anybody can quantify £100 million. There is not much change with our values of sales.

Fewer houses are coming on to the market and I think people are being more careful.

"The sub-prime crisis in America is going to have some effect and dent people's confidence but I don't think there is going to be a crash on this scale."

Alison Wimbush, an associate partner at Weber Brown in Lindfield, said: "In this part of the world we are very lucky as people always want to move in and out. We are always having people desperate to move here with deep pockets. "

Barrie Alderton, of Barrie Alderton estate agents, in Brighton, said: "There's no reason why the property market will crash here. In Brighton you have no spare land."

Jane Wilkinson, president of Brighton and Hove Estate Agents' Association and director at Leaders Lettings Agents, said: "I think Brighton, Hove and Sussex is immune to the housing market slowdown because it's a wonderful place.

"Nobody can deny the sales market has slowed down and the last six months was quite difficult but since we got back in in January it's been really busy. "

Paul Kendrick, of Kendrick Property Services, in Brighton and Hove, said: "We are not selling as many properties as we did last year but we are not experiencing anything like what the papers are saying in general, not just The Argus."

David Lench, of Arun Estates, said: "The article has caused immeasurable problems and it's caused me to lose business because people have been frightened.

"Something that is factual is that Brighton does have a London effect.

A lot of people have moved to Brighton from London.

"The most popular place to live in Britain is London. That is a very good reason why Brighton might fare a lot lot better than other areas."

Christopher Hamer, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents, last night said the £100m figure did not reflect the official position of his organisation.

He said: "As an independent arbiter on disputes between buyers or sellers and firms which are members of my scheme I am not necessarily seeing a realistic or precise picture of the state of the residential housing market.

"Out of something like 1.2 million housing transactions last year I dealt with 800 or so disputes and my view of the possible downturn is not that of an insider to the estate agency sector but essentially that of any member of the public."