Whilst supporting the roll-out of HIPs, Hamptons has continued to stress the importance of careful and strategic implementation of the scheme to ensure its overall benefit to consumers and the market.
Interest rates, house prices and stock market uncertainty have played a central part in market behaviour over the last few months, but the scepticism surrounding HIPs has undoubtedly added to this.
Research has revealed that the stock levels of new instructions in London are down by 24% and by 6% in Country regions when comparing the summer ‘07 HIPs market to the spring ‘07 market –resulting in a 15% per cent overall decrease.
It also shows a 2% decline in the number of four-bedroom homes, and 4% decline in the number of five-bedroom homes coming onto the market.
When looking specifically at three bedroom properties, a rise of 3.5% in stock levels (as a percentage of total UK stock) was witnessed in August, potentially illustrating the number of buyers trying to beat the 10 September deadline.
With the Government now announcing the roll-out of the HIP scheme to every one of the approximately two million properties that come to market each year by the end of 2007, and possibly as soon as next month, concern is now focused on how HIPs will impact supply and market activity further.
Rob Bruce, senior research manager at Hamptons International, said: “The introduction of HIPs has marked one of the most fundamental changes to the way property is bought and sold. A number of market conditions, such as interest rate activity and seasonal trends have played a part in the current supply/demand situation.
“However, HIPs have undoubtedly had an impact on the market and consumer behaviour. We await with interest the market dynamic once the initial teething problems surrounding HIPs have been resolved – ideally prior to its extension to the wider market.”
