Complex Hips adding to first-time buyer woes

08 2008
With a significant number of Britons already struggling with a lack of confidence in the property market, the complexity of Home information packs (Hips) is causing even more people to put off buying their own place, it has been claimed.

Coming around a year after the packs were introduced with the aim of ensuring buyers are not hit by any hidden extras, the property firm Your Move has argued that, for first-time buyers at least, the initiative is often see more as a hindrance than a help.

The company's, area sales director Jane Walmsley, explained: "I think it's made it more complex at a time when there is no money about and if someone has to fork out for a Hip, it obviously doesn't help the housing market."

At the same time, new figures released by the Nationwide Building Society have shown that house prices have fallen by 8.8 per cent over the past 12 months alone, going someway to justify the view held by many that renting represents the most prudent financial option for the foreseeable future. ADNFCR-1219-ID-18723514-ADNFCR

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