News
25th May 2010The coalition government has suspended the use of Home Information Packs (Hips) by home sellers.
Hips were introduced in 2007 in England and Wales. The aim was to speed up the house selling process by obliging sellers to provide much of the required conveyancing information when properties are first put up for sale.
The packs, which typically cost between £299 and £350, were stunting the housing market recovery, as they deterred people from putting their home on the market just to test the water.
"It will be greeted enthusiastically by both the housing market and house buyers, few of whom have paid much attention to these pointless packs," the National Association of Estate Agents said. "It is also good news for sellers. They no longer need to shell out hundreds of pounds for a piece of pointless regulation that benefits no one."
Although you no longer need a Hip to put your property on the market, you will need to have commissioned, but not necessarily received an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before marketing can start.
You can commission an EPC through Edison Ford using our own Domestic Energy Assessor.
House prices make a strong start to 2010
- House prices rose by 1.2% in January and are up 8.6% year-on-year
- Recent economic data has been a mixed bag for the housing market
- Inflation uncertainties highlight interest rate risk
"House prices strengthened their upward momentum at the start of 2010, increasing by a seasonally adjusted 1.2% month-on-month in January. The 3 month on 3 month rate of change - usually a smoother indicator of the near term trend - dipped slightly from 2.3% in December to 2.1 % in January, but this primarily reflects the smaller price increases recorded in November and December. At £163,481, the average price of a typical UK property cost 8.6% more than a year earlier in January, up from 5.9% in December. Unless there is a fall in property values in February, annual house price inflation is likely to move into double-digit territory next month for the first time since May 2007.""
House prices edge ahead, but only in the South
House prices edged ahead by 0.2 per cent during September, as the number of people looking to rent a home has also picked up.
The average home in England and Wales is now worth £156,100, only 5.6 per cent less than a year ago, according to Hometrack, the property intelligence group.
The market continued to recover more quickly in southern regions than northern ones, with London and the South East rising the most, by 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively. The South West and West Midlands also saw a slight growth, 0.1 per cent each, but the rest of the country stayed the same. Despite the overall growth, only 15 per cent of postcode areas saw an increase during September, with prices unchanged in more than four fifths of the country.