Hips 'have not had negative effect on market'

20/03/2008
People who forecasted that Home Information Packs (Hips) would have a negative effect on the housing market have got it wrong, according to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP).

The group has claimed that the introduction of Hips has not made any difference to the market.

Mike Ockendon, director general, of AHIPP said: "There are more properties on the market for sale today than there were in 1999... the forecasters of doom said people wouldn''t risk their properties so clearly that hasn''t happened."

He added that the problem with the market is that people are not "coming out to buy" and so Hips have not affected the market in a negative way.

According to the AHIPP one of the objectives of Hips is to reduce the failure rate of 25 per cent for deals between an offer being accepted and the actual exchange of contracts.

In a recent poll by IPSOS Mori, it was revealed that 41 per cent of buyers thought that using Hips did not make the process of buying a house any simpler.