NAEA press release - Three bedroom homes market 'could suffer'

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is warning that today's introduction of obligatory Home information packs (Hips) for three-bedroom properties is likely to hurt the housing market.

Since August anyone selling a four-bedroom property has already been obliged to cover the cost of obtaining a Hip - which typically stands at around £350 - and the scheme in now being extended to homes with just three bedrooms.

Packs are tailored to each dwelling and they give personalised energy certificates that are intended to reveal how green a home is to prospective buyers.

But the NAEA is pointing to the marked drop in sales of four-bedroom properties since the scheme was first introduced for them on August 1st.

"Our concerns have always been that the introduction of Hips would lead to a lack of supply following implementation," said Peter Bolton King, chief executive at the NAEA.

"This does indeed seem to be the case with four-bedroom homes and is now likely to be replicated in the three-bedroom homes market."

He added: "The next few months will prove crucial in seeing whether Hips are going to cause the sort of problems we feared."

Green homes are said to save homeowners money on energy bills as well as lessening the negative impact of carbon emissions on the environment.

10/09/2007 22:36:32