The Home Information Pack provider, Openbook has announced that it will be closing its doors to all new business from tomorrow. This is the second large HIP provider this month to go into liquidation which further underlines the state of the housing market.

This also draws into question once again, the whole concept of HIP’s. Most of these are being sold over the internet, and in order to be competitive, providers are having to slash their costs as consumers shop around. The margin for profit within them to the provider is reduced substantially, and thus leads to an unsustainable business model.

We predict that more could go the same way, unless they are diversified into other fields.