Property investors attempting to grab a US property bargain could snap up a luxury pad in California as the foreclosure crisis hits wealthier households.

The Los Angeles Times reports a hilltop Spanish-style villa in the attractive Napa Valley recently went for $1 million (£510,000) two years after it sold for $1.4 million (£717,000) in a sale experts say may become more common.

Vast suburban neighbourhoods are no longer the only rung of the property ladder where discounts are up for grabs, the paper reports. Quoted by the Times, real estate agent Michael Snider, who handled the Napa villa sale, said:

“It’s just the beginning”.

“People are just pushing aside their mortgage payments, holding default off.”

The publication adds statistics from DataQuick Information Systems show 112 homes were repossessed in Napa County in the first three months of the year, up from 23 for the same period in 2007.

Earlier this month Boston Real Estate Now reported mortgage firm Countrywide Home Loans had 297 properties for sale in Massachusetts, with an average asking price of $174,628 (£88,887), below the state average.

In May US senators approved a plan that would see the availability of government-insured mortgages expanded in a bid to bail out the hundreds of thousands of people threatened by foreclosure, although a thumbs-up from the Bush administration is by no means certain.

Property investors have been asked by police to remain vigilant after officers discovered a huge cannabis factory in a rented Welsh property. Over 100 plants were found in a terraced house at Brynsifi Terrace, Mount Pleasant on Monday evening after a tip off from a local resident.

Police confiscated heating and lighting equipment and even an irrigation before advising property investors to ensure they keep an eye out for illegal activity among tenants.

Detective Inspector Ron Devine said

“Once again a member of the local community has provided us with vital information to uncover yet another cannabis plantation.

“It has been well documented recently as to the tell tale signs of possible cannabis plantations. I would like reiterate earlier appeals to landlords and members of the public alike to be vigilant and to look out for the signs.

“These could include blacked out windows throughout the house and infrequent visitors along with movements late at night.”

He added a strong smell coming from or near the house could also be a give away.

Officers who recovered the plants said the street value of the drugs seized stood at around £18,000. In July last year police uncovered two cannabis factories in Gabalfa, Cardiff, including a three-bedroomed house where every room was filled with plants.

An estate agents’ group has rejected some of the “doom and gloom” predictions on falling UK house prices and claimed the market is stabilising after huge price hikes. The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) said surveys published by other bodies only give a partial picture of what is happening in the housing market.

Officials from the group said the situation was “mixed” across the country and added some areas were more affected by slumping values than others. NAEA vice president Chris Wood said recent figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showing a drop in the average home price “told only part of the story”.

He said:

“We are already aware from our own members that house prices are being affected differently throughout the country so to see that the report showed an aggregate drop in house price comes as no surprise.

“However, there is a real need to keep this in perspective. The picture is mixed across the country and some areas will be more affected than others, so people really need to look to their local markets to get a true picture.”

His comments could provide some reassurance to property investment specialists following previous experts’ claims prices could carry on falling through 2008.

Mr Wood added:

“Rather than a dramatic fall that some “doom and gloom” merchants are predicting, it shows we are looking at a return to a more steady market.”

The NAEA, the residential sales arm of the National Federation of Property Professionals, is the UK’s leading professional body for estate agency personnel, representing around 10,000 members.