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25th November 2009
The Conservatives would scrap HIPs “in a matter of weeks” after coming to power, shadow housing minister Grant Shapps has said.Nothing unusual in that: he has been saying it to the trade press, including EAT, consistently and for some time. However, he is now widely telling national newspapers the same thing. Speaking to The Times, in an interview now carried in several other papers, he said that abolishing HIPs would be his first task, should his party win the election. Shapps said: “House prices are rising because supply is restricted. HIPs have not helped. The main priority is to scrap them. They are easy to suspend and there are emergency powers we can use to do so. This can happen very quickly. HIPs will be gone in a matter of weeks.” Shapps also said in the same interview that a Conservative government would raise the house price threshold above which Stamp Duty is payable to £250,000. Bushells comments that in reality this news is bad for the housing market in the short tem. In fact Mr Shapps' announcement may cause first time sellers to procrastinate in selling their homes to avoid this levy. additionally, his announcement regarding stamp duty may deter buyers thus compounding the problem he seeks to avoid. It appears a case of seeking votes over common sense.
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