ANY government climbdown is swiftly followed by often ill-considered claims that policy is in shambles and calls for the ministers involved to resign. This was the response to the latest U-turn on Hips (home information packs) – but, this time, all the accusations were justified. This was not a timely retreat, but an inept attempt to save face and spread the blame as widely as possible for the failure to implement this key reform – which was supposed to speed property transactions and encourage energy saving.

Before this week’s volte-face, the Government called into question the eco-consciousness of anyone who pointed out any flaw in the Hip rules. Ministers contended that the energy performance certificate (EPC) element of the Hip would raise awareness of the need to reduce domestic carbon emissions.

But, as the EPC was the only thing halfway resembling a fully formed strategy to curb our use in our homes of fossil fuels and so help to halt global warming, what does the Government now mean to do to save the planet? Real-time meters that show how much electricity is being used are one of the recommendations of the energy White Paper published this week. But there are no firm proposals on how and when they will be installed in homes.

When Hips are finally introduced – the new start date is August 1 – they will be required only for four-bedroom houses. Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, justified the decision to limit the scheme to such properties, as they offer “the greatest potential to make energy savings” – which indicates a strange lack of awareness of the way we live now.

BACKGROUND

• Opening bids - Is it Christmas already? Tell Santa to break out a rate cut without further delay?

• Which economists will win the contest to be the gloomiest over the future for prices?

• Which camp are you in - storm clouds or showers? Even the experts are split

• Opening bids - a year in property

BACKGROUND

• Opening bids: Why the Government must do something about Britain’s empty properties

• Will there be a rate cut before Christmas? Kate Barker knows - but she’s not telling

• Downturn and downtown in 2008: how investors in UK city-centre flats may feel the chill first

• Opening bids

Sub-prime slime is oozing out everywhere from the US -where will it spread next?

BACKGROUND

• Comment: The housing shortage

• Ripple effect from Belgravia to the suburbs

• Comment: the property market slowdown

• Tax perks for a few are adding to the property have-nots’ sense of injustice, but don’t expect reform any time soon

• This was not a timely retreat. What does the government now mean to do to save the planet?

The silencing of our Mr Spocks

Our public administration has specialised in low-level, chronic inefficiency with a counterpoint of big talk

BACKGROUND

• Average prices in the South are 1.59 times higher than the North

• The City’s ardour for status homes remains unabated

• The dawn of a more eco-conscious Britain may be delayed

• It's bonus time, let the stampede begin

• Prices and politics either side of the border

Hips will make us greener, or so the Government says

• Hips have already won hearts and minds and will make us all greener, or so the Government says

BACKGROUND

• Mortgage competition makes millions immune to base-rate moves

• Hidden costs of a place in the sun

• Primark Principle revises gloomy views

• Going green is not cheap

Which owner-occupier do you think most contributes to global warming? The frugal pensioner couple in a four-bedroom 1,000-sq-ft property or the hedge fund manager in a 3,000-sq-ft loft, laterally living large with a mega-power shower, underfloor heating and every type of electric appliance and gadget? Ms Kelly also illustrates some naivety about the operations of the property market. It is expected that many sellers of four-bedroom properties will avoid the £600 fee for a Hip by describing their dwelling as “three bedrooms and a study”.

The excuses given for the delay in launching Hips until August 1 stretched credibility to the limit. Ms Kelly admitted there was a shortage of inspectors to carry out EPC surveys, although, even as happened last week, her department was insisting otherwise. Her spokespeople are saying inspectors have trained, but have not proceeded to full accreditation because of “misinformation and uncertainty”. But the “uncertainty and misinformation” have arisen from the Government’s bungled handling of the planning for Hips.

While quick to shrug off any responsibility for the debacle, Ms Kelly did not offer any apologies to firms that had placed their faith in the Government’s assurances and had been busy readying themselves for the new rules. On page 9, we report on the case of Martin Hughes, who has taken on 60 full and part-time energy assessors. What guarantee does he have that Hips will not be quietly shelved later this year? Should estate agencies and legal firms that have laid out millions in preparing staff and systems for Hips now write off that expenditure?

The long-term future of the project must be in doubt as Gordon Brown is, apparently, antiHip, although plans for the pack were first outlined in Labour’s 1997 manifesto. Anyone thinking of selling a home this year would rather like him to make his views explicit on the subject.

THE SUPER INDEX

Views will be divided on whether we need yet another house price index: there is already enough product differentiation in this sector with Halifax, Nationwide, Hometrack and the Land Registry being among biggest names to produce monthly numbers on the performance of the market. However, nerdy lovers of statistics (a club of which I am a member) will always be happy to read yet another list of percentages.

The estate agency Chesterton Global is the latest to produce an index of prices in England and Wales, in collaboration with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (cebr). This is a meta-index, abstracted from data in other indices and thus, unsurprisingly, producing a result not so different from what we already know.

The average price has risen by 9.7 per cent over the past year, but, in April, the market cooled, slipping by 0.7 per cent. This confirms that weakness was already setting in even before this month’s interest rate rise. However, the Chesterton index indicates that the slow-down was less marked among lower-priced homes – upsetting for first-time buyers who hoped to benefit from a slackening in the pace of growth.

This may suggest that buy-to-let investors are still accumulating properties, despite mounting evidence that rates will go up again. Are these buyers choosing to see only the positive news in all the indices? Let us hope not, especially for those who are already overextended.

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