Perhaps Peter, since new housing scam, fearful (5-8)
I believe the answer is:
panic-stricken
'fearful' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'perhaps peter since new housing' is the wordplay.
'perhaps' becomes 'trick' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'peter' becomes 'pan' (I've seen this in other clues).
'new' is an anagram indicator.
'housing' is an insertion indicator.
'since' with letters rearranged gives '[since]'.
'pan'+'[since]'='pan[since]'
'trick' going inside 'panicsen' is 'PANIC-STRICKEN'.
'scam' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for panic-stricken that I've seen before include "Terrified" , "Frenzied" , "Scared stiff" , "Unnerved" .)