For the past year or so Grant Shapps and the other anti-HIP lobbyists have continually banged on about how the home information pack should go because it is deterring homeowners from placing their property on the market. Grant Shapps claims the £199 pr so presently charged by many for a HIP is causing homeowners to think twice and has as a consequence caused the housing market to stall.
Indeed, it was only a couple of days ago that the National Association of Estate Agents was calling for a suspension of the HIP because it was not helping first time buyers. All very bizarre when the first time buyer pays nothing for the benefits of the HIP.
Those who support the HIP have never understood the logic behind this argument and have for sometime now looked upon this rhetoric as nothing other than unfounded and often inexplicable political sound bites.
Claims that the property market was being brought to its knees by the humble HIP have always been viewed by rational property professionals as ridiculous in the extreme, and with news breaking this week of the property market returning to normal, it is hard to see where this will leave the credibility of those who have consistently voiced such nonsense.
According to housing intelligence group Hometrack, Estate agents in England and Wales reported a 5.6% jump in the number of properties they had on their books during March,
The group said the supply of homes on the market had already jumped by 10.2% during the first two months of the year, compared with a rise of only 7% during the whole of 2009.
Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research, said: "Talk of improved market conditions and prices returning to near peak levels in some markets is encouraging a growing number of households to sell their properties. Many registered buyers are also sellers, and as they gain the confidence to move, so they need to put their homes on the market. Overall, it seems that we are moving from a sellers' market back towards something more akin to normal market conditions."
Hopefully evidence of this that is devoid of self interest bias will mark an immediate end to the calls for the HIP to be ‘scrapped’ and will serve to vindicate a beleaguered industry of well intentioned property professionals.
Indeed, it was only a couple of days ago that the National Association of Estate Agents was calling for a suspension of the HIP because it was not helping first time buyers. All very bizarre when the first time buyer pays nothing for the benefits of the HIP.
Those who support the HIP have never understood the logic behind this argument and have for sometime now looked upon this rhetoric as nothing other than unfounded and often inexplicable political sound bites.
Claims that the property market was being brought to its knees by the humble HIP have always been viewed by rational property professionals as ridiculous in the extreme, and with news breaking this week of the property market returning to normal, it is hard to see where this will leave the credibility of those who have consistently voiced such nonsense.
According to housing intelligence group Hometrack, Estate agents in England and Wales reported a 5.6% jump in the number of properties they had on their books during March,
The group said the supply of homes on the market had already jumped by 10.2% during the first two months of the year, compared with a rise of only 7% during the whole of 2009.
Richard Donnell, Hometrack's director of research, said: "Talk of improved market conditions and prices returning to near peak levels in some markets is encouraging a growing number of households to sell their properties. Many registered buyers are also sellers, and as they gain the confidence to move, so they need to put their homes on the market. Overall, it seems that we are moving from a sellers' market back towards something more akin to normal market conditions."
Hopefully evidence of this that is devoid of self interest bias will mark an immediate end to the calls for the HIP to be ‘scrapped’ and will serve to vindicate a beleaguered industry of well intentioned property professionals.
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