The NAEA said 83 per cent of its members had found requests for market appraisals had dropped in October, with 9 per cent of respondents having a reduction of more than 50 per cent.
Of over 1,000 survey responses, 76 per cent said they had seen a decrease of over 10 per cent in the number of instructions for three or more bedroom properties, with 46 per cent seeing a drop of over 30 per cent. NAEA compared this to just 37 per cent of respondents who had seen a decrease of more than 10 per cent in instructions for one or two-bedroom properties.
Just 6 per cent of agents felt there should be a full roll out of the packs, while 76 per cent believed HIPs should be scrapped and Energy Performance Certificates should apply to all properties.
Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, commented: “Clearly everyone accepts that there are a number of financial and economic factors that have caused the market to take a breather after seven hectic years. However, these figures show there is an anomaly between instructions on properties where a HIP is required and where one is not.”
However, Dominic Toller, director of marketing and new business for LMS, said: “I do fear how robust some of the data is. The incremental cost of the HIP to the vendor is £100, because they need most of the parts anyway. Does the NAEA really think that people are choosing not to sell their homes for £100? That’s rubbish.”
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