Hamptons: Hips not enhancing UK market

Research from estate agent Hamptons International has revealed nearly three months since full roll-out of home information packs (hips) they are not enhancing the UK market.

Furthermore, in a damning indictment of the government's housing policy, Hips are also found to be failing their original objectives of speeding up the buying process and stopping gazumping.

While Hips were designed to help the home buying and selling process - providing consumers with a faster and more cost effective service - market figures collated since their present a very different picture.

"Instead of speeding up the buying and selling process, the introduction of Hips has actually discouraged sellers from putting their properties on the market," said Marc Goldberg, head of residential sales, Hamptons International.

Research from Hamptons finds new instructions to sell were down across the country by 15 per cent since the beginning of the role out of Hips in August 2007.

Furthermore, a poll by Hamptons also finds, despite government confidence energy performance certificates (EPCs) will reduce fuel bills in UK homes, energy efficiency is not a key consideration for most buyers when it comes to finding the right property.

In fact, a breakdown of Hamptons' properties across the UK reveals an average EPC rating of E (36 per cent), with 26 per cent of properties scoring a D rating, and only 11 per cent achieving a C rating or more.

"The growing concern for the environment is yet to affect buying decisions within the property market today, particularly within London," said Mr Goldberg.

"With affordability issues and so many people competing for every square inch of property, there just isn’t the luxury to search by carbon output."

While the roll-out of Hips was completed on December 14th, the document is not mandatory for all sales as they can still be completed at the end of the process.

However, from June 1st all homes offered for sale will require a Hip from the moment they are placed on the market – a change which could bring further disruption, according to Hamptons.

"We are certainly concerned about the proposed implementation on June 1st of requiring a Hip to be in place prior to marketing a property – especially given the current time delays that are involved.

"The introduction of Hips was supposed to enhance the sales process, but this just hasn’t been the case," concluded Mr Goldberg.