HIPs 'exaggerate' drop in asking prices
Posted on 17 December 2007 by
The asking price for properties in England and Wales fell by 3.2% in December, according to figures from Rightmove.co.uk.
The property website's House Price Index, which tracks the price asked by home-sellers for their property, shows a £7,590 drop in the average asking price, to £232,396.
Prices have increased by just 4.8% since the same time last year, compared to November when they had risen by 7.9%.
Rightmove notes a seasonal trend towards falling prices in December. However, it adds that it has recorded a "hugely disproportionate" number of cheaper properties being put up for sale. It attributes the rush to "first-time sellers" keen to avoid the 14 December introduction of Home Information Packs (HIPs) for two-bedroom and smaller properties.
The website estimates that without the surge of sellers keen to avoid HIPs, prices would have fallen by around 2.1%.
"New listings are very low at this time of year, so the artificial wave of 'low-end sellers' has really distorted the average prices of new properties coming onto the market," said Rightmove's commercial director Miles Shipside.
"Whilst three months ago we forecast that the final phase of HIPs would drop average prices this month, a substantial element of the fall reflects genuinely tough market conditions."
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