<p>Home information packs become mandatory in less than four weeks time, posing yet another policy initiative for developers to contend with. The industry’s views on the likely impact of HIPs is hugely divergent, and debate continues to rage over whether adequate numbers of trained energy assessors will be available to enable energy performance certificates to be included, as required, from October 1. </p> <p>On the bright side, much of the information that will be contained in the pack is already provided to buyers of new homes, and will just need some fairly straightforward repackaging. It is the secondhand homes market, where such information has historically been left to the buyer to discover, that will likely be more heavily impacted by the new regulations. In fact, home information packs may benefit the industry in more ways than one. Most significantly, energy performance certificates will make it crystal clear to buyers just how much more energy efficient new homes are. If developers play their cards right, this required step-change in the way homes are marketed to buyers could be turned to their distinct advantage. </p> <p>The industry has long recognised its need to better promote the relative environmental performance of new homes, …