Hips are 'not to blame for slowdown'

Blaming Home Information Packs (Hips) for the slowdown in the housing market is unfair, it has been claimed.

Latterly, the packs have come in for criticism from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) which said that sellers will baulk at paying hundreds of pounds for them.

This in turn Rics reasoned has prompted sellers to delay putting their property on the market, prompting a slowdown.

However, according to Rob Kellermann, managing director of Firsthips, highlightin the link between Hips and a decline in the housing market is exaggerated.

He said:" It was on the cards that the property market was going to slowdown but certainly not because of Hips. If you are selling your house for £200,000 you are not going to say 'I'm not selling it anymore because I've got to pay £300'.

"It is all rubbish. And the fact that anything under three bedrooms does not require a Hip now means that if Hips were slowing the market you would expect to see less of a decrease in one and two bedroom property sales, but that isn't the case.

"We are seeing the same slowdown across the market."