Scrap HIPs and improve lending to help the housing market

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) suggests that ‘The Government should scrap Home Information Packs and must pressure banks to ensure lending is available’ to sustain improvements in the housing market.

These suggestions were made as the housing market activity stabilisied in June.

As the NAEA reports even though there were fewer properties to sell, estate agents generally continued to make strong house sales in June.

Also positively, buyers are now more likely to pay the house asking price as the difference between the asking and selling price has narrowed to just 1.9%.

As NAEA President Gary Smith, commented ‘The housing market is in a far stronger position than it was 12 months ago.’

He added ‘It is in the interests of the UK as a whole that the upturn in the housing market that has been noted in the first half of 2009 is sustained and nurtured into a full recovery. The Government must do more to ensure that money that has been given to banks finds its way through the system and into the housing market.’

Many are still finding it difficult to find a mortgage that they qualify for, a clear indication that steps taken so far by the Government, banks and building societies, have not yet acheived the desired result.