Instructions continue to surge in London following HIPs delay

After the recent eleventh hour announcement by the Government to delay the introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs), many estate agents feared a large-scale withdrawal of homes by sellers who had put their home on the market to avoid the original 1 June deadline.

In fact the opposite has happened, and London estate agents Barnard Marcus reported a 69% increase in the number of people putting their home on the market with them following the Government’s announcement.

Divisional Managing Director, Vito Rausa, explained this, “In the early stages of May we saw no real evidence of any increase in activity because of the impending HIPs deadline. However, in the two weeks leading up to HIPs we experienced a huge rise in the level of instructions, with an increase of 39% throughout our 40 branches in London compared to the same period last year. Then, after the Government made its announcement on 22 May, instructions surged 69% last week.”

“We’ve yet to experience the predicted withdrawals. The May rush was mainly due to sellers bringing forward their anticipated move by a month or two and we’re not expecting them to withdraw only to instruct us again in a few weeks’ time.

“Also, HIPs will still be introduced on 1 August 2007 for properties with four bedrooms and above and will eventually be phased in to include all properties. So, while the Government decides on the best way to introduce HIPs, we have a very healthy market - the best it’s been for a while. Demand from buyers is still very high and the recent surge of instructions now means that there are a lot more homes to choose from, so it’s business as usual.”