Hips 'add to FTB affordability woes'

The introduction of home information packs (Hips) across the entire property market will make it more difficult for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

Rics states that the complete introduction of Hips will "wipe out" 300,000 properties from the market as the £500 to £600 cost will discourage speculative sellers from putting their property up for sale.

Commenting on the extension of Hips from covering homes of three bedrooms or more to all properties, Jeremy Leaf, a Rics spokesperson, said: "The housing minister [Yvette Cooper] needs to understand that rolling HIPs out to one and two bed properties could find first-time-buyers caught between a rock and a hard place as accessibility to the market would go off the scale."

Mr Leaf also said that if Ms Cooper wants to assist FTBs, she should discontinue the "flawed policy.

Rics claims 140,000 members across 146 countries which operate across construction, property and associated environmental issues.

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