Love 'em or hate 'em HIPs sell houses faster!
Connells, the Estate Agency linked to the governments HIPs trials a year ago, have continued to monitor their effect in practice. Despite the imperfect Government handling and the opposition of bodies like the NAEA and RICS, the practical effect is definitely to the BENEFIT of house-sellers and buyers alike.
According to a press-release on their website:
“Our research showed that Connells vendors with HIPs exchanged contracts on their property on average twelve calendar days faster then those without a Pack. We know from experience that the longer there is between an offer being accepted and contracts exchanged, the more chance there is that the sale will not progress so anything that reduces this period has to be good for both buyers and sellers.”
Paul Edgington of Connells explained: “We took a sample of 2607 vendors who had instructed Connells after 2nd August 2007, when the first stage of HIPs was implemented, and who had also exchanged contracts by 31st March 2008. The sample included all sizes of property and broadly similar numbers of those sellers who did not need a HIP and those who had a HIP produced for them.”
The results, after analysis, showed that vendors with HIPs exchanged contracts on their property on average twelve calendar days faster than those without a Home Information Pack.
Connells said: “There have been a lot of negative reports about HIPs over the past few months but our research proves that they are speeding up housing transactions.”
How much better it would have been if they’d been properly thought through and competently introduced.